Special Report Transcript Episode 60, Section 3, Time 17:07

It was not the first time that TRC investigators had to dig for the truth in the killing fields of KwaZulu-Natal. The first secret graves of murdered anti-apartheid activists were discovered on the Elandskop Dairy farm near Pietermaritzburg in March this year. The skeletal remains of Bheki Mkwamasi, Mbova Mzimela and Phila Ndwandwe were discovered in unmarked graves; all of them were members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe cell, the ‘Butterfly Unit.’ They’d all been murdered by policemen in 1988. For years their families had no idea what had happened to them, but five weeks after the remains were exhumed the families of Phila Ndwandwe and her ‘Butterfly Unit’ comrades were granted the wish of many families who have appeared before the TRC: the opportunity to reclaim their children’s bones and lay them to rest with love and dignity. Wednesday this week TRC investigators searched for the remains of ANC activist Blessing Ninela after the amnesty applications of notorious security branch operatives Andy Taylor, Laurie Wasserman and Sam du Preez lead them to this pauper’s graveyard.

Notes: Elandskop, 14 March; Families view remains; Ixopo Exhumation, 6 August