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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 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. 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 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 ... 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 ... ... 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 ... 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. ... 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 ... On Monday the widows of the Cradock Four came back to Centenary Hall in Port Elizabeth at the start of second week of testimony from their husband’s killers. Last week they heard from Sakkie van Zyl who was the captain in charge of the operation on that fateful June night in 1985. From one cover up to another. In Port Elizabeth this week the Truth Commission’s Amnesty Committee met to hear applications from seven security policemen who were responsible for the 1985 deaths of a group of Eastern Cape leaders who have become known as the Cradock Four. ‘Ambush and Killing: Cradock 4’ // It has never been the policy of the government, the National Party that people should be murdered, should be assassinated. I’ve said that clearly. Such instruction is in conflict with the policy as it has been at all times within my knowledge. According to Mamasela the Pebco Three were driven to this old police station outside Cradock. It was known as Post Chalmers. The Cradock Four amnesty hearing continues in Port Elizabeth next week. If Harold Snyman does testify he may disclose dramatic new details of the chain of command. We’ll have to see what the doctors say. It is difficult for all of us to listen to former policemen and other perpetrators confess to ... ... to uncover the truth. You need just to think of say the Pebco Three; the sort of things that we now know. Or the bombing of Khotso House, or the Cradock Four and perhaps most heartrendingly you might refer to the exhumations of people who were killed secretly and buried secretly and what all ... The Amnesty Committee of the Truth Commission resumes its hearings this week. The murders of activists Stanza Bopape, the Pebco Three and the Cradock Four will be the topics of the hearings this week and may we remind you again that the Special Report can be viewed on Sunday evenings at six and on ... ... ago us ordinary South Africans knew about the cruel suppression of the Sharpeville and Soweto ’76 uprisings, about the murder of Steve Biko, the Cradock Four, and Griffiths Mxenge. We knew about most of the big and dramatic stories of torture and assassination. Perhaps the one thing we ... |
