S. Africa reopens inquiry into deaths of apartheid-era activists
President Cyril Ramaphosa set up a judicial inquiry in April following claims of deliberate delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes. (AP pic)
JOHANNESBURG : A South African court opened an inquest today into the murders 40 years ago of four anti-apartheid activists by a police hit squad in one of the most notorious atrocities of the apartheid era.
No one has been brought to justice for the 1985 killings of the so-called Cradock Four, and their families have accused the post-apartheid government of intervening to block the case from going to trial.
Teachers Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe and Sicelo Mhlauli and railway worker Sparrow Mkonto were abducted and killed while returning home from a political meeting in the southern town of Cradock.
'After 40 years, the families are still waiting for justice and closure,' advocate Howard Varney, representing relatives of the four men, told the court in an opening statement.
'We intend to demonstrate that the deaths of the Cradock Four were brought about by way of a calculated and premeditated decision of the apartheid regime taken at the highest level of the government's state security system,' Varney told the court in the Eastern Cape city of Gqeberha.
The truth and reconciliation commission set up to uncover political crimes carried out under apartheid refused amnesty to six men for the Cradock Four killings.
This left them open to prosecution but the post-apartheid authorities took no action, Varney said.
This may have been in part due to a 'toxic mix of idleness, indifference, incapacity or incompetence' but the families also believed 'political forces intervened to block their cases from proceeding', he said.
'This inquest is probably the very last chance that the families will get to reach a semblance of closure. They deserve nothing less than a full and comprehensive accounting with the past,' the advocate said.
It is the third inquest into the Cradock Four murders, which came at the height of the white-minority government's repression of anti-apartheid activists.
Claims of deliberate delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes led president Cyril Ramaphosa to set up a judicial inquiry in April.
In January, 25 families of victims and survivors of apartheid-era crimes, including the Cradock Four, announced they were suing the government over a 'gross failure' to investigate and prosecute perpetrators.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Free Malaysia Today
5 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Parents' neglect led to Zayn Rayyan's injuries, death, says prosecution
Zaim Ikhwan Zahari and Ismanira Abdul Manaf are charged with neglecting their son, Zayn Rayyan, between noon on Dec 5,2023 and 9.55pm the following day. PETALING JAYA : Zayn Rayyan Zaim Ikhwan's parents must enter their defence on a child neglect charge, as the autistic boy sustained injuries which led to his death after being left alone for a prolonged period, according to prosecutors. In written submissions filed at the close of their case, prosecutors said the law did not require them to prove that Zaim Ikhwan Zahari and Ismanira Abdul Manaf had intended for the boy to suffer any injury. 'Circumstantial evidence led through prosecution witnesses showed that the parents had exposed their child to injuries while he was under their care,' read the submissions, sighted by FMT. In her police report, Ismanira had said she was heading home on Dec 5, 2023 together with Zayn, who was behind her. The mother claimed she was carrying Zayn's schoolbag and some grocery items she had purchased at the time. The boy's mother said she turned around when she could no longer hear his footsteps, only to realise that he was missing. According to the submissions, two child witnesses testified to seeing Zayn run alone towards an orchard near the Idaman Apartment around noon that day. Zayn Rayyan Zaim Ikhwan. Meanwhile, another witness, Rashidah Rajali, who was about to send her child to school, said she chanced upon Ismanira going upstairs to her apartment. According to Rashidah, Ismanira came down again at about 12.35pm. She said Ismanira showed no motherly reaction to the loss of the special needs child at the time. 'One thing is apparent—that Ismanira was wearing a different tudung (headscarf) and attire when the witness met her again 20 minutes later,' the submissions read. The prosecution said Ismanira only informed Zayn's disappearance to his babysitter, Auni Afiqah Abas, about an hour after the child had gone missing. They said medical officer Dr Siti Ramlah Abdullah testified that an autistic child requires a higher degree of care compared to a normal child. Prosecutors also pointed to evidence that Zayn was unaccompanied when seen near the orchard. 'The mother was not there to prevent Zayn from going to the orchard,' the submissions read. It said all the evidence, when pieced together, led to the conclusion Zayn was neglected the moment he was left to walk behind Ismanira, who paid no attention to him. 'The mother only cared about herself as she left the groceries in the house before looking for her son. Her conduct was captured on a closed-circuit television in the apartment,' they said. What is even more heartbreaking is that the mother did not appear to panic or show anxiety, the submissions added. 'There was not a single prosecution witness who heard her scream or call out the victim's name. Instead, she chose to go to her apartment to change her outfit and then came back as if nothing had happened.' The prosecution said parents had a legal and moral responsibility to care, protect and ensure the safety of the child. 'Therefore, we submit that the couple had a common intention to commit the crime,' the submissions read, adding that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against both accused. Ismanira and Zaim, both 30, are charged with neglecting Zayn in a manner likely to cause the boy physical harm between Block R of Apartmen Idaman in Damansara Damai and a nearby area, from noon on Dec 5 to 9.55pm the following day. They are charged under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years' imprisonment, a maximum fine of RM50,000, or both upon conviction. Zayn's body was found in a stream near his home on Dec 6, 2023, a day after he was reported missing. Deputy public prosecutors Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharudin, Aqharie Durranie Aziz and Nur Sabrina Zubairi are prosecuting while lawyers Haresh Mahadevan, Ramzani Idris and H Lavanesh are appearing for the couple. Trial judge Syaliza Warnoh will deliver her decision on July 21.
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
After 42 years, El Salvador convicts ex-military over Dutch journalists' deaths in civil war ambush
CHALATENANGO (El Salvador), June 4 — A former defence minister in El Salvador and two retired colonels were found guilty Tuesday of the 1982 killings of four Dutch journalists during the country's civil war, a lawyer for families of the deceased said. A five-member jury sentenced the defendants, now in their 80s or 90s, to 15 years in prison after an 11-hour session on the first day of the trial, attorney Pedro Cruz said outside the courthouse. In a crime that shocked the world, Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemsen were killed while filming a television documentary. More than 75,000 people were killed in El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war pitting the US-backed military against leftist guerrillas. The Dutch reporters worked for IKON TV, a Dutch channel founded by several churches. The accused are General Jose Guillermo Garcia, 91, former police colonel Francisco Antonio Moran, 93, and ex-infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes Mena, 85. None of them were in court for the trial, which was conducted with press and held in the northern city of Chalatenango. 'The fight against impunity took a long time, but it was won,' the Dutch ambassador for all of Central America, Arjen van den Berg, said outside the courthouse. In 1993, a UN-sponsored Truth Commission found the journalists had walked into an ambush planned by Reyes, who lives in the United States, and with the knowledge of other officers. The Salvadoran Supreme Court approved an extradition request for Reyes in March, but there has been no progress so far. Garcia and Moran are under police surveillance in a private hospital in San Salvador. The defendants had faced up to 30 years in prison but got less time because of their age and ill health, the lawyer Cruz said. The NGOs Fundacion Comunicandonos and the Salvadoran Association for Human Rights hailed the trial as a 'decisive step' in the search for truth and justice. 'We trust that this trial sets a historic precedent in the fight against impunity,' they said in a joint statement. The case remained unresolved for decades after the presiding judge received threats in 1988, prompting her to seek refuge in Canada. It was reopened in 2018 after the Supreme Court declared an amnesty law for civil war crimes unconstitutional, but relatives of the victims still had to wait years for the main hearing. Evidence such as a statement from a former US military attache and a military expert's report 'directly points' to the defendants' responsibility, said lawyer Pedro Cruz, who represents the victims' families. Garcia led the Armed Forces from 1979 to 1983, when the worst massacres perpetrated by the military took place. — AFP
The Star
a day ago
- The Star
Court allows govt appeal in Armed Forces pension adjustment case
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has allowed the appeal by the government and three others to overturn a High Court ruling that favoured 50 retired Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) personnel in a pension adjustment dispute. In a unanimous decision on Wednesday (June 4), the three-member panel chaired by Justice Datuk Hashim Hamzah ruled that the military personnel failed to prove that the government, prime minister, defence minister and MAF Council had breached provisions under the Federal Constitution. "We find there is merit in the defendants' appeal that warranted appellate intervention,' said Justice Hashim, who sat with Justices Datuk Wong Kian Kheong and Datuk Ismail Brahim. ALSO READ: May 6 decision on govt's appeal against Armed Forces pension adjustment The judge said the defendants cannot be said to have breached Article 147 of the Federal Constitution as they had not placed the plaintiffs in a less favourable position. The court allowed the appeal with no orders as to legal costs. Justice Wong, who wrote a supporting judgment, said two documents namely "Garis Panduan Pelaksanaan Pindaan Syarat-Syarat Perkhidmatan ATM" dated Jan 17, 2013, and "Surat Pelaksanaan Kesetaraan Pangkat dan Penambahbaikan Jadual Gaji Minimum Maksimum bagi Perkhidmatan ATM di bawah SSM" dated March 14, 2013, were not on salary adjustment but amendments to the terms of service for serving members of the MAF. He said that the objective was to improve the salary scheme for serving members and not to discriminate against retirees who left service before Jan 1, 2013. Wong also said there was no unequal treatment between pensioners who retired before and those who retired after Jan 1, 2013, as pension adjustments were not made for retirees after that date that year. ALSO READ: Khaled: We will wait for court's decision on pension On Feb 5 last year, the High Court ruled that all military personnel who retired before Jan 1, 2013, are entitled to have their pensions adjusted to the rates and methods applied to the retirees who retired after that date. The 50 personnel of various ranks filed an originating summons in the High Court on Nov 17, 2022, seeking a declaration that the government had violated provisions in the Constitution read together with Section 187 of the MAF Act 1972 for their respective failures to implement new pension adjustments for those who retired before Jan 1, 2013. They claimed that the government's failures to implement the pension adjustments had caused a significant pension gap between the MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1 and those who retired after Jan 1, 2013. In Wednesday's proceedings, Federal Counsel M. Kogilambigai appeared for the government while lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla represented the retired personnel. After the court proceeding, Haniff Khatri told reporters that he would study the court's grounds of judgment before deciding whether or not to bring the matter to the Federal Court. – Bernama
