GQEBERHA – The Cradock Four inquest sitting yesterday, 24 March at the Gqeberha High Court, heard shocking revelations that both the original and duplicate case dockets have gone missing despite being stored in two separate locations.
The testimonies of two former law officers, Captain Tlou Masegela and Colonel Kenneth Makuwa, revealed the disappearance of crucial evidence in the case they were investigating.
The Cradock Four were a group of four anti-apartheid activists who were abducted and murdered by South African security police in June 1985: namely, Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkhonto.
In his testimony, retired captain attached to the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation, Tlou Masegela, told the court that there were two dockets of the Cradock Four case; the original and a duplicate that he made. The original was [allegedly] in the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) strong-room, and the duplicate was at his then place of work in Pretoria under the supervision of his then supervisor, Colonel Reinette Coetzee.
Masegela testified that he was informed by Makuwa when he took over the case that the docket was not in the box he said it was in. “He told me that the box was there, but the original docket in the box was missing.”
Masegela claimed that he reconstructed a new version of the original docket without assistance in 2010. “Papers in boxes were scattered all over the place whilst we sifted through the documents, with approximately 100 statements.”
He mentioned a previous conversation he had with Lukhanyo Calata, son of the activist Fort Calata, in which Calata said, “the NPA does not have an appetite to prosecute this case.”
He added that he sent the docket to the NPA, which was lost. He discovered this during his retirement. He then told the new investigator, Makuwa, to find the duplicate docket, which was also lost. He added that the key to the safe-room was always in possession of Colonel Reinette Coetzee.
Masegela also said that he continuously followed up on the status of the case, to which he was told that it would come, but it never did. Explaining the chain of events, he said, “The scattered docket pages came from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), to the NPA, then to SAPS.”
Makuwa, who took over the investigation in 2018, confirmed that the box with the alleged docket was missing. “I took over the investigation and most of the dockets in his possession. I also saw proof that Masegela handed the docket to the NPA.”
He said that he obtained a few pages of the docket six or seven months after starting his investigation. “There was nothing tangible from the docket; just evidence and post-mortem reports. The statements were missing.”
Makuwa added that upon setting up appointments with family members and following up on a lead to where the docket was, he was instructed by his superior officer to drop the lead and return to the office. “When this happened, I was in Maletswai (formerly Aliwal North), having travelled from Pretoria, when I was told to return. I was then told that the case was transferred to ‘new blood’ who would now investigate the case.”
Matthew Goniwe was stabbed in the heart, Fort Calata was stabbed to death, Sicelo Mhlauli was stabbed to death, and Sparrow Mkhonto was shot and stabbed to death.
De Kock denies involvement
Former apartheid-era security police commander Eugene de Kock testified on Monday that he had no direct involvement in the murders of the Cradock Four.
De Kock, the former commander of the notorious Vlakplaas unit, was imprisoned for crimes committed during the apartheid era. He however told the court he was not involved in the abduction or killings of the four activists in June 1985.
De Kock however did testify about the work he did at Vlakplaas and orders he got from other persons of interests like Major General Izak “Krappies” Engelbrecht to bomb, kill and imprison those regarded as terrorists by the then apartheid government.
He told the court that he became an accessory after the fact, when he was asked to change the ballistics of the bullets that killed the anti-apartheid activists.
The matter continues today, 25 March, for the continuation of witness statements.
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