CRADOCK FOUR INQUEST
INQUEST RECORDS
- Opening Address – Howard Varney
- Derrick Swarts (A65)
- Michael Benjamin Coetzee (A66)
- Derrick Swartz (A71)
- Lukhanyo Calata (On the witness stand)
MEDIA REPORTS
‘Cradock Four’ inquest: Son of Calata drops bombshell that his dad died for his activism
EWN: Kgomotso Modise 6 June 2025
JOHANNESBURG – The son of slain apartheid activist Fort Calata has testified before an inquest that he was told by a senior government official that his father’s case was part of the price that had to be paid during negotiations for South Africa’s freedom.
The Cradock inquest is on its fifth day in the Gqeberha High Court, and Lukhanyo Calata is on the witness stand.
Cradock Four: Fort Calata’s son says betrayal by post-apartheid leaders cut the deepest
EWN: Kgomotso Modise6 June 2025
GQEBERHA – With the reopened inquest into the assassination of the Cradock Four, the son of Fort Calata has told the Gqeberha High Court that the betrayal by political leaders post-apartheid cut the deepest.
Matthew Goniwe, Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkhonto were killed by security branch police in 1985 while on their way from a meeting in Port Elizabeth.
Cradock 4 Inquest | Families say pain deepened by ‘ANC betrayal’
ENCA: Story by
GQEBERHA – Families of the Cradock Four say the pain of loss has been deepened by betrayal.
In an emotional testimony before the Eastern Cape High Court, Fort Calata’s son said the ANC had turned its back on the very people who paid the ultimate price for freedom.
Lukhanyo Calata was only three years old when the Cradock 4 were killed. His only memory of his father, Fort Calata, was his funeral.
Cradock Four murder inquest: Generational trauma for families after nearly 40 years
by Shanti Jafta in News on
The families of the Cradock Four, anti-apartheid activists murdered in 1985, continue to endure generational trauma while seeking closure, as revealed in an emotional inquest.
The families of four anti-apartheid activists murdered in 1985 continue to suffer from “generational trauma” as they search for closure nearly four decades after the killings.
In emotional testimony during the inquest in the High Court in Gqeberha into the deaths of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli, collectively known as the Cradock Four, Professor Derrick Swartz spoke of the lasting impact of the brutal murders on the families left behind.
Apartheid police may have bugged car the ‘Cradock Four’ travelled in, inquest hears
EWN: Kgomotso Modise 5 June 2025
JOHANNESBURG – The inquest into the assassination of the “Cradock Four” has heard how apartheid police may have bugged the car that the anti-apartheid activists were travelling in.
Prominent anti-apartheid activist Professor Derrick Swarts is the first witness to take the stand in the inquest.
The court has spent the last two days on an in loco inspection, where significant spots related to the lives and killings of the “Cradock Four” were visited.
NMU former VC says he will never forgive the killers of the Cradock Four
The former vice chancellor of Nelson Mandela University, Professor Derrick Swartz, says he will never forgive the people who killed the anti-apartheid activists known as the Cradock Four.
Professor Swartz was the first witness called by the National Prosecuting Authority on the fourth day of the inquest into the deaths of the Cradock Four, that got underway in the Gqeberha High Court on Thursday.
Emotional return for families, witnesses as Cradock Four inquest revisits search for slain activists
DAILY MAVERICK: 05 JUNE 2025 Story by
In an emotional day for the families of the Cradock Four, they visited the sites in Bluewater Bay and near Coega, along with their legal team and Judge Thami Beshe, where a desperate search for the men occurred when they disappeared while returning home to Cradock after a meeting in Gqeberha (then Port Elizabeth). The visit was part of proceedings in the third inquest being held about the four anti-apartheid activists’ brutal deaths in 1985.
Cadock Four: Fort Calata’s wife recalls dream prompting her to visit place where his body was found
EWN: Kgomotso Modise5 June 2025
GQEBERHA – The wife of Fort Calata, one of the Cradock Four activists, has recalled how she was haunted by a dream after his murder, prompting her to visit the place where his body was found.
She relayed the story during an in loco inspection as part of an inquest into the deaths of the activists.
Cradock 4 Inquest | Efforts to solve mystery behind deaths of activists continue
ENCA: Thursday 05 June 2025
GQEBERHA – The Eastern Cape High Court spent much of inquest Day 3 visiting five sites believed to be where bodies of the Cradock 4 were found. The court heard that the car they were travelling in was found in Coega, near Addo Road.
https://www.enca.com/news/cradock-4-inquest-efforts-solve-mystery-behind-deaths-activists-continue
Court visits site where bodies of Cradock 4 were found
ENCA: Story by
GQEBERHA – The inquest into the killing of the Cradock Four resumes in Gqeberha.
The court is set to visit the site where bodies of the anti-apartheid activists were found. On Tuesday, the inquest inspected the home of Matthew Goniwe. The inspections in loco form part of the efforts to uncover the truth, behind the 1985 deaths of Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto, and Sicelo Mhlauli.
LIVE INQUEST CLIPS
05 June 2025
MEDIA CLIPS
Justice or Just Delay: Apartheid Crimes, Extraditions, and Political Accountability
EWN: Published Jun 5, 2025
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LUTHULI INQUEST
Unsolved apartheid-era crimes continue to haunt South Africa
SUNDAY TRIBUNE: 07 June 2025 Sandile Mdadane
ABOUT 400 cases of apartheid-era crimes remain unsolved, leaving countless families grappling with grief and a yearning for closure and justice.
Prominent investigations are certainly underway, yet the slow pace of uncovering truths has left many questioning the commitment of political leadership to rectify historic wrongs.
The inquest into Albert Luthuli’s death: A family’s search for truth
IOL: Bongani Hans 06 June 2025
The National Archives Advisory Council chairperson, Sibongile Mnyandu-Nzimande, described at the inquest into Inkosi Albert Luthuli’s death this week how her father died heartbroken because of her uncle’s disappearance without a trace at a young age after being kidnapped by apartheid police.
Push to restore Albert Luthuli as an inkosi gains momentum
THE WITNESS: 06/06/2025
A motion to reinstate late ANC president Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli as inkosi of the Umvoti Mission Reserve (Amakholwa) has been tabled in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, drawing renewed national attention to the legacy of South Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Luthuli Inquest | New witness to take the stand
ENCA: Story by
KWAZULU-NATAL – The inquest into the 1967 death of Chief Albert Luthuli resumes in Pietermaritzburg.
A new witness, related to the eyewitness who allegedly saw Luthuli assaulted near a railway line, is expected to testify.
https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/luthuli-inquest-new-witness-to-take-the-stand/ar-AA1G3p1a
‘Chief Luthuli was reportedly assaulted with a shovel by white men’ – Witness
ENCA: 04 June 2025
PIETERMARITZBURG – A new witness in the Chief Albert Luthuli inquest has testified that her father witnessed white men assaulting the former ANC president. The inquest into the death of the anti-apartheid stalwart continued in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. The apartheid government’s claim that Luthuli was hit by a goods train in 1967 is in dispute.
https://www.enca.com/top-stories/chief-luthuli-was-reportedly-assaulted-shovel-white-men-witness
LIVE INQUEST CLIPS
04 June 2025
03 June 2025
02 June 2025
CAIPHUS NYOKA
Court hears former apartheid officer’s remorse for activist’s murder
CAPE ARGUS: | 0 June 2025
Johan Marais, a former apartheid police officer convicted of the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka, now expresses deep remorse for his actions and wishes he could turn back time to change the past.
This is according to psychologist, Kirsten Clark, who gave evidence on Thursday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in Marais’s sentencing proceedings.
Johan Marais, former apartheid officer, expresses deep remorse for activist Caiphus Nyoka’s murder
IOL: ZELDA VENTER 05 Juny 2025
Former apartheid police officer Johan Marais, who was earlier found guilty of the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka, has severe remorse for what he had done 38 years ago, and he wishes that he could undo what had happened.
This is according to a psychologist, Kirsten Clark, who gave evidence on Thursday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
