KIMBERLEY – South Africa’s pursuit of justice for apartheid-era killings gained fresh momentum this week as the National Prosecuting Authority announced the reopening of the inquest into the 1985 death of anti-apartheid activist Booi Mantyi, adding to a growing list of renewed investigations into high-profile deaths from the country’s darkest period.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Northern Cape will bring the Mantyi case before the High Court in Kimberley on Tuesday, 18 November, nearly four decades after the activist was fatally shot by police during a commemoration of the 1976 Soweto uprising.
The announcement comes as South Africa grapples with a renewed effort to uncover the truth behind apartheid-era killings, following recent breakthroughs in the cases of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Luthuli, Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko and human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge.
Mantyi, who served as President of the De Aar Residents’ Association, was killed on 16 June 1985, when police opened fire on protesters marking the anniversary of the Soweto student uprising. According to official records, police claimed they acted in self-defense after being pelted with stones, using shotguns and live ammunition against the crowd.
The activist died hours later at a local hospital from multiple wounds to his heart and lungs. A 1985 inquest, based largely on police testimony, cleared the officers of wrongdoing – a verdict that Magistrate JLK Von Reiche reached after accepting the police version of events.
“The main goal of reopening the inquest is to lay before the court new evidence,” said NPA spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane, indicating that previously unavailable information could fundamentally alter the understanding of Mantyi’s death.
The Mantyi reinvestigation follows landmark rulings in other high-profile apartheid cases. In October, a South African high court definitively ruled that Albert Luthuli, the first African Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former ANC president, was beaten to death by apartheid police in 1967, overturning decades-old findings that his death was accidental.
The court implicated the notorious Special Branch police unit and South African railway employees in Luthuli’s murder, providing a template for how new evidence can reshape historical narratives.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited inquest into Steve Biko’s death – the Black Consciousness leader who died in police custody in 1977 – was also reopened in April 2025, though proceedings have faced multiple adjournments.
These cases form part of a broader reckoning with South Africa’s apartheid past, as evidence emerges of systematic cover-ups that protected police officers from prosecution. President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry into allegations that previous post-apartheid administrations deliberately blocked investigations into these deaths.
The renewed inquests represent a significant shift from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s approach, which prioritized amnesty in exchange for full disclosure. Critics argue that this policy allowed perpetrators to escape justice while denying families proper closure.
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