Decades after one of apartheid South Africa’s most infamous political crimes, a new judicial inquest has commenced to reexamine the 1985 murders of four anti-apartheid activists by a police assassination unit. The case, known as the Cradock Four, remains unresolved 40 years later, with no prosecutions despite multiple investigations and mounting calls for justice.
On Monday, a South African court in Gqeberha opened proceedings into the killings of teachers Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli, and railway worker Sparrow Mkonto. The four men were abducted and murdered while returning from a political meeting in Cradock, a town in the Eastern Cape province.
“After 40 years, the families are still waiting for justice and closure,” Advocate Howard Varney, legal counsel for the victims’ relatives, stated in his opening address to the court.
Varney told the court that the families would present evidence showing the murders were not random acts of violence, but the outcome of deliberate planning at the highest levels of the apartheid state.
“We intend to demonstrate that the deaths of the Cradock Four were brought about by way of a calculated and premeditated decision of the apartheid regime taken at the highest level of the government’s state security system,” he said.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was established in the post-apartheid era to investigate crimes committed under apartheid, denied amnesty to six individuals linked to the Cradock Four case. Despite this, successive democratic governments have failed to pursue prosecutions.
Varney criticized the inaction of post-apartheid authorities, noting that the lack of progress may have stemmed from a “toxic mix of idleness, indifference, incapacity or incompetence,” but he added that families also suspect deliberate obstruction. They believe that “political forces intervened to block their cases from proceeding,” he said.
“This inquest is probably the very last chance that the families will get to reach a semblance of closure. They deserve nothing less than a full and comprehensive accounting with the past,” Varney emphasized.
This marks the third inquest into the deaths of the Cradock Four, whose murders occurred during one of the most repressive phases of the apartheid regime. Their case has long symbolized the broader struggle for justice in the face of state-sanctioned violence.
Widespread criticism over repeated delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes led President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a judicial inquiry in April 2025 to examine government handling of these cases. Earlier in January, 25 families—including relatives of the Cradock Four—filed a lawsuit against the South African government, accusing it of a “gross failure” to pursue justice for victims of apartheid-era atrocities.
