South Africa: ‘Justice Delayed, Justice Denied’ As Families of Apartheid Victims Sue Govt for Damages

The families of South Africans murdered by apartheid police, including anti-apartheid activists killed in 1985, are suing the government for damages.
Twenty-five families and survivors of apartheid-era political crimes are suing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government for failing to investigate and punish those crimes. According to them, the government neglected to adequately investigate and prosecute apartheid-era political crimes after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
As part of their request, they want Ramaphosa to create a commission of inquiry into “political interference that resulted in the suppression of several hundred serious crimes arising from South Africa’s past”.
The group has filed the lawsuit in Pretoria’s High Court seeking damages of about U.S.$9 million.
Neville Beling and Karl Weber, survivors of the Highgate Hotel Massacre, as well as the families of the Cradock Four, are among the applicants in the case filed on January 20, according to the Foundation for Human Rights.
The Cradock Four – Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto, and Sicelo Mhlauli – were all anti-apartheid activists from the town of Cradock (now Nxuba) who were assassinated 40 years ago. They accused the government of “grossly failing” to prosecute the six apartheid-era security officials allegedly responsible for the murders, and of suppressing inquiries. They were abducted and murdered by police in 1985, leading many Black South Africans to become enraged and marking a turning point in the struggle for freedom. Their funeral was attended by thousands of people. Their alleged killers, however, have all passed away without being brought to justice.
In South Africa, apartheid governed the racial division of the country between 1948 and 1994, oppressing the non-white majority through discriminatory laws. In 1996, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established by the African National Congress (ANC) party to investigate, prosecute, or pardon apartheid-era crimes. TRC handed over a list of several hundred cases to state prosecutors for further investigation after its conclusion in 2002.
However, the TRC’s recommendations were largely ignored and many cases were never investigated.
Lukhanyo Calata, the son of Fort Calata, recommended that unresolved apartheid-era cases of forced disappearances, deaths in detention, and murders of anti-apartheid activists be prosecuted.
“Instead, in the more than 20 years following the handover of the TRC report to Mbeki, government ministers have intervened to prevent the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) from carrying out its constitutional mandate to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes. Justice delayed in this manner has ensured that justice is permanently denied to our families,” said Calata.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) expressed solidarity with the families of 20 missing and murdered anti-apartheid activists who have taken the courageous step to sue the government. The EFF described the lawsuit as a “courageous act of accountability”.
“It is unacceptable that over 30 years after the fall of apartheid, these families still do not have answers or closure about the fate of their loved ones. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) failed to deliver meaningful accountability or truth in many of these cases while the further suppression of investigations and prosecutions into apartheid-era crimes has pushed these families to the courts as their last resort. This case represents their pursuit of peace and justice in the face of decades of broken promises,” said EFF national spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys.
Ramaphosa’s legal team said that they will respond to the court papers accordingly, and the president has never interfered with law enforcement agencies’ work or instructed them not to prosecute apartheid-era crimes.
By Melody Chironda