By Anita Dangazele
- Bantu Holomisa said the killings of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto were planned by top apartheid officials.
- Holomisa told the court a secret military document ordered that Goniwe and others be “permanently removed from society”.
Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa has told the High Court in Gqeberha that the killings of the Cradock Four were ordered from the highest levels of the apartheid government.
He was testifying at the reopened inquest into the deaths of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto – four anti-apartheid activists from Cradock in the Eastern Cape.
The men were kidnapped in June 1985 while driving home from a meeting in Gqeberha. Days later, their burnt bodies were found.
Holomisa, who led the Transkei Defence Force at the time, said he saw a secret military document known as “the signal”. It ordered that Goniwe, Calata and another activist, Mbulelo Goniwe, be “permanently removed from society.”
“I believe that was code for assassination,” Holomisa told the court.
He said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had already shown that the apartheid state used violence to silence its opponents.
Holomisa leaked the document to the media in 1992, saying he wanted to prove the apartheid government directly ordered the killings.
He also criticised former president FW de Klerk for failing to act when the evidence became public.
“If you were not aware that your security forces were doing this dirty work, you should have prosecuted them,” he said.
The inquest continues this week.
Pictured above: Anti-apartheid activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto.
Image source: @MYANC
