Latest news with #TruthAndReconciliationCommission
News24
a day ago
- Politics
- News24
Unfinished business: Uncovering the buried crimes of apartheid regime
EDITORIAL: Unfinished business - Uncovering the buried crimes of apartheid regime Lukhanyo Calata never had the chance to know his father. In 1985, when he was just three years old, his father, Fort Calata, was brutally murdered alongside Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, and Sicelo Mhlauli. Collectively, they became known as the Cradock Four. Despite two inquests into their deaths, no one has ever been held accountable for their kidnapping, assault, or the gruesome act of setting their bodies alight following their arrest at a roadblock set up by the Security Branch near Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). In 1999, six former police officers connected to the Cradock Four's arrests and murders appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), seeking amnesty. Their application was denied. Yet, even after this, no prosecutions followed. For decades, Calata has sought answers, questioning why - more than 30 years after the democratic election of the ANC - justice remains elusive for the Cradock Four. This week, a third inquest got under way, seeking to uncover who was truly responsible for the death of the anti-apartheid activists. This inquest comes shortly after the announcement that retired Constitutional Court justice Sisi Khampepe will lead a judicial inquiry into whether there were deliberate attempts to block the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. Beyond the Cradock Four, there are an estimated 400 unsolved cases from South Africa's apartheid era. In this week's Friday Briefing, News24's legal journalist, Karyn Maughan, delves into the law enforcement paralysis that followed the TRC and its devastating impact on the families of victims. Lukhanyo Calata, in his contribution, writes poignantly about his family's anguish and the pain of asking questions when no one remains alive to provide answers. Additionally, in this week's edition, in-depth writer Muhammad Hussain interviews ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip regarding the party's proposal to amend the Constitution. Explore these insightful contributions below. The apartheid government got away with murder... and SA needs to know why There is compelling evidence that apartheid-era atrocity cases were not prosecuted because of alleged political interference from the ANC government. And, Karyn Maughan writes, it's crucial this toxic subversion of accountability is finally explained – and confronted. Read the rest of the submission here. An ANC failure: The long journey for justice for the Cradock Four Lukhanyo Calata, son of Fort Calata - one of the Cradock Four who were brutally murdered - shares his reflections on a renewed inquest into apartheid-era atrocities. He argues that these proceedings, including an inquest into the Cradock Four's deaths, will expose the harm inflicted by the ANC and unravel the reasons behind the historical obfuscation. Read the rest of the submission here. Q&A with Athol Trollip | ActionSA constitutional change: 'If people want to call it xenophobic, so be it' ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip speaks to in-depth writer Muhammad Hussain and defends his party's submission to modify the Constitution's 'South Africa belongs to all who live in it' principle.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
South Africa reopens inquiry into murders of 4 apartheid-era activists by police hit squad
A South African court opened an inquest on Monday 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.
The Herald
5 days ago
- General
- The Herald
Families of Cradock Four due to testify at reopened inquest into their murders
A reopened inquest into the deaths of four United Democratic Front activists in Cradock is set down from Monday until June 12 in the Gqeberha High Court. Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto were killed by apartheid-era security branch officers in June 1985. In 1987, a first inquest found the Cradock Four had been killed by "unknown persons". A second inquest in 1993 ruled their deaths had been caused by the police but no one has been prosecuted. Six police officers applied for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in connection with the murders. This was refused by the TRC in 1999. All are deceased, the first in 1998 and the last in 2023 . "It is a bittersweet moment for the families, who have watched the men responsible for the deaths of their husbands and fathers live out their lives in comfort and die without ever being held accountable. The democratic state has had 30 years to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killings and the masterminds behind the assassinations. It has failed on every front," the families and Foundation for Human Rights said in a statement. The families of the Cradock Four said during this phase of the inquest, only family witnesses will be called to give evidence. Testimony from former state officials will be heard at a later date, when funding for their legal costs has been finalised. Justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi will attend the opening day of proceedings before judge Thami Beshe. "The initial sitting will focus on placing on record the parties and legal representatives involved in the matter, and the judge will also provide direction on the issue of conducting an inspection in loco at the original crime scenes," the minister's office said. " The inquest forms part of ongoing efforts by the department to address unresolved cases from the apartheid era and to advance justice and closure for affected families and communities." TimesLIVE
Associated Press
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
A South Korean mother sues the government and an agency over the adoption of her missing son
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A 72-year-old mother has filed a lawsuit against South Korea's government and its largest adoption agency, alleging systematic failures in her forced separation from her toddler son who was sent to Norway without her consent. Choi Young-ja searched desperately for her son for nearly five decades before their emotional reunion in 2023. The damage claim by Choi, whose story was part of an Associated Press investigation also documented by Frontline (PBS), comes as South Korea faces growing pressure to address the extensive fraud and abuse that tainted what's seen as history's largest foreign adoption program. In a landmark report in March, South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the government bears responsibility for facilitating an aggressive and loosely regulated foreign adoption program that carelessly or unnecessarily separated thousands of children from their families for multiple generations. It found that the country's past military governments were driven by efforts to reduce welfare costs and empowered private agencies to speed up adoptions, while turning a blind eye to widespread practices that often manipulated children's backgrounds and origins, leading to an explosion in adoptions that peaked in the 1970s and 1980s. Children who had living parents, including those who were simply missing or kidnapped, were often falsely documented as abandoned orphans to increase their chances of being adopted in Western countries, which have taken in around 200,000 Korean children over the past seven decades. Choi's lawsuit follows a similar case filed in October by another woman in her 70s, Han Tae-soon, who also sued the government and Holt Children's Services over the adoption of her daughter who was sent to the United States in 1976, months after she was kidnapped at age 4. Suit claims illegal adoption and cites institutional failures Choi says her son, who was three years old at the time, ran out of their home in Seoul in July 1975 to chase a cloud of insecticide sprayed by a fumigation truck while playing with friends — and never came back. She and her late husband spent years searching for him, scouring police stations in and around Seoul, and regularly bringing posters with his name and photo to Holt, South Korea's largest adoption agency. They were repeatedly told there was no information. After decades of searching in vain, Choi made a final effort by submitting her DNA to a police unit that helps reunite adoptees with birth families. In 2023, she learned that her son had been adopted to Norway in December 1975 — just five months after he went missing — and that the adoption had been processed by Holt, the agency she had visited countless times, under a new name and photo. Enraged, Choi confronted Holt, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press. She has since worked with lawyers to prepare a lawsuit against the agency, the South Korean government, and an orphanage in the city of Suwon where her son stayed while Holt processed his adoption. Her now 52-year-old son, who traveled to South Korea in 2023 to meet her, has declined to comment on the story. The 550 million won ($403,000) civil suit recently filed with the Seoul Central District Court alleges that the government failed in its legal duty to identify Choi's son after he arrived at an orphanage — despite her immediate police report — and to verify his guardianship as he was processed through a state-controlled foreign adoption system. The orphanage and Holt failed to verify the child's status or notify his parents, even though Choi's son was old enough to speak and showed obvious signs of having a family. In particular, Holt falsified records to describe him as an abandoned orphan — even though Choi had visited the agency looking for him while he was in its custody, before the flight to Norway, according to Jeon Min Kyeong, one of Choi's lawyers. South Korea's government and Holt did not immediately respond to AP's request to comment on Choi's case. Korea facing growing pressure to address adoption problems Choi and Han are the first known birth parents to sue the South Korean government and an adoption agency over the allegedly illegal adoptions of their children. In 2019, Adam Crapser became the first Korean adoptee to sue the Korean government and an adoption agency — Holt — accusing them of mishandling his adoption to the United States, where he endured an abusive childhood, faced legal troubles, and was eventually deported in 2016. But the Seoul High Court in January cleared both the government and Holt of all liability, overturning a lower court ruling that had ordered the agency to pay damages for failing to inform his adoptive parents of the need to take additional steps to secure his U.S. citizenship. The truth commission's findings, released in March, could possibly inspire more adoptees or birth parents to seek damages against the government and adoption agencies. However, some adoptees criticized the cautiously worded report, arguing that it should have more forcefully acknowledged the government's complicity and offered more concrete recommendations for reparations for victims of illegal adoption. During the March news conference, the commission's chairperson, Park Sun Young, responded to a plea by Yooree Kim, who was sent to a couple in France at age 11 by Holt without her biological parents' consent, by vowing to strengthen the recommendations. However, the commission didn't follow up before the final version of the report was delivered to adoptees last week. The commission's investigation deadline expired Monday, after it confirmed human rights violations in just 56 of the 367 complaints filed by adoptees since 2022. It had suspended its adoption investigation in April following internal disputes among progressive- and conservative-leaning commissioners over which cases warranted recognition as problematic. The fate of the remaining 311 cases, either deferred or incompletely reviewed, now hinges on whether lawmakers will establish a new truth commission through legislation during Seoul's next government, which takes office after the presidential election on June 3. The government, which has never acknowledged direct responsibility for past adoption problems, has so far ignored the commission's recommendation to issue an official apology to adoptees.
