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Cradock FourExplanation The sleepy Karoo town of Cradock is unique. From the mid 1980s it became the centre of rural resistance in the Eastern Cape. This week the Truth Commission made its way there to relive stories of murder and torture rigged on ordinary but militant communities by the state. ... The Motherwell bombing case: the state alleges that he was involved in the murder of other policemen. // At an inquest in 1993 into the murder of four other Eastern Cape activists, Niewoudt once again denied that he was ever involved in torturing the detainees. // Major Niewoudt also denied ... General Mortimer’s submission was not received well. // I find it almost unbelievable that in 80 pages there can be no acknowledgement or acceptance that the SADF in implementing a policy of apartheid could bear no responsibility for a single death. I find it impossible to believe that those who ... ‘The Violated’ // On the 15th of April 1996, almost exactly two years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission took its seat for the first time in the East London City Hall. The road ahead was an unknown one. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu symbolically opened proceedings a solemn hymn swept ... There were other storms brewing one of which affected Doris Hermanus directly. In 1984 the entire Lingelihle village council resigned and were accepted back into the community. They were the first of the black local authorities in the Eastern Cape to resign. Hermanus was one of the councillors, who ... The perpetrators of my husband’s killing, they should not only be exposed, but they should appear in court so that everybody can see them. // And this was when Col Gideon Niewoudt’s name came up again. And as far as farms go one identifies at least three categories. What appears from investigations thus far is that there were farms which were used as headquarters by the security police or by Vlakplaas-type units. We had Vlakplaas; we had Andy Taylor’s Camp Adon, a farm he used as headquarters. ... ... eventually happen. // What in your view would be justice around their deaths? // Justice? OK it’s very difficult. Well a lot of harm was done to Cradock. He wasn’t just my father, he was the father of Cradock; they were actually the fathers of Cradock. Justice to me would certainly not be ... put it into black bags. I had the instruction from Capt van Zyl to destroy all evidence of what I had done. I took it to the Fish River, just before Cradock, before you enter Cradock. I emptied the bags into the river and we left for Port Elizabeth. ... ... so called source of the death signal, signed by the JMC chairman, Brig Joffel van der Westhuysen. Last year the TRC heard from the families of the Cradock Four. They told of their suffering and loss of their loved ones. They also had many questions to ... There is no doubt that the amnesty hearing in relation to the deaths of the Cradock Four is one of the most important cases to be heard in the Eastern Cape. The Amnesty Committee has spent the last two weeks listening to testimony and they have now adjourned until June or July when further ... ... incident of physical violence two United Democratic Front committee members had been stabbed and set alight after an attack on their car between Cradock and Port Elizabeth. A police spokesman has named the two murdered men as Mr Sparrow Mkonto of Cradock and Mr Sicelo Mhlauli of Oudtshoorn. ... The Special Report team moves to Cradock this coming week for Human Rights Violations hearings and to Pietermaritzburg where killers in the ANC IFP conflict will ask for amnesty. Please join us next Sunday evening at eight for a full background report. Good night. ... sequence of the executions was reported by Van Zyl who says after their abduction the men were taken to Post Chalmers, a disused police station in Cradock. The next day, May the ninth they were fed, drugged, shot dead and their bodies burned to ashes. ... Sakkie van Zyl was not able to tell the Committee in what order the Cradock Four had been killed or why the bodies and the car were set alight in four different locations. But he did explain why he thought his actions had a purpose. ... perpetrator is still lying then no amount of apologizing helps. This was highlighted three weeks ago when Gerhardus Lotz, one of the killers of the Cradock Four, ... ... Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi were abducted from Port Elizabeth Airport. They were taken to Post Chalmers, a disused police station in Cradock and eliminated. Five Eastern Cape security policemen Harold Snyman, Hermanus du Plessis, Johan van Zyl, Gideon Niewoudt and Gerhardus Lotz ... ... Yes. // Now ... of this information that was furnished to the Committee under oath whether that clearly indicates that the persons you refer to as Cradock Four in inverted commas, the question was discussed at GBS meetings and the information available to the GBS was made available to you when ... ... The signal was sanctioned by the then Head of Military Intelligence, General Joffel van der Westhuizen. Mr. Justice Nevel Sietzman found that the Cradock four have been killed by unidentified members of the security forces. ... An inquest in 1989 found that the men had been killed by a person or persons unknown. The deaths of the Cradock Four, as they came to be known, remained shrouded in mystery until May ’92 when the New Nation newspaper published a document said to be a military signal that called for the permanent ... |