To: All Media
ATT: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters
For Immediate Release
9 October 2026
PEBCO Three Inquest Scheduled for 12 – 16 October 2026 in Gqeberha High Court
Statement by the PEBCO 3 families and the Foundation for Human Rights
The inquest into the death of the PEBCO Three will take place between 12 and 16 October at the Gqeberha High Court. The inquest, which was opened in July 2025, will look into the abduction and murders of the PEBCO Three, a collective name given to Sipho Hashe (General Secretary), Qaqawuli Godolozi (President) and Twasile Champion Galela (Organising Secretary), who were leaders of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO). On 8 May 1985, the three men were lured to the then H F Verwoerd Airport (now David Stuurman Airport) where they were then abducted, tortured, and subsequently executed by several members of the Port Elizabeth Security Branch of the South African Police and the Vlakplaas Unit, on a farm known as Post Chalmers near Cradock (now Nxuba), in the Eastern Cape.
This is the first sitting of the inquest, following the families’ long pursuit for accountability. In 1999, members of both the Port Elizabeth Security Branch and the Vlakplaas Unit applied for amnesty in respect of the abduction and murder of the PEBCO Three. Amnesty was granted to two applicants and refused to the other seven applicants. However, to date, there has been no prosecution in respect of the PEBCO Three, despite the efforts of the families and their legal representatives to seek justice for the anti-apartheid activists.
In 2004, criminal charges were laid against Gideon Nieuwoudt, Johannes Martin “Sakkie” van Zyl and Johannes Koole for the kidnapping and murder of the PEBCO Three. Shortly after their bail hearings in 2004, Nieuwoudt and Van Zyl applied to the High Court to review the decisions to refuse them amnesty. This created years of delay until the case was provisionally withdrawn in 2009. Between 2011 and 2019, the PEBCO Three docket was held by the PCLU at the NPA’s Head Office. At that time, at least five known perpetrators implicated in the murders were still alive, however, no further investigative or prosecutorial steps were taken. In 2019, the PEBCO Three families, supported by the Foundation for Human Rights, formally requested the NPA and DPCI to reopen the case.
On 1 December 2023, the families’ legal team handed over a detailed analysis of the evidence to the NPA, calling for criminal charges to be brought against the last three surviving suspects: former Vlakplaas members Colonel Roelof Jacobus Venter (aged 75), Warrant Officer Gerhardus Cornelius Beeslaar (aged 85), and askari Joseph ‘Joe’ Mamasela (aged 70). The lawyers implored the NPA to act expeditiously, given the advanced ages of the suspects. Venter died in July 2024, and Beeslaar in April 2026, leaving Mamasela as the only surviving perpetrator known to have been involved in the murder of the PEBCO Three. This first sitting of the PEBCO Three inquest is expected to conduct inspections in loco at Dawid Stuurman Airport and Post Chalmers. Additionally, the inquest is expected to hear the evidence of Captain Dastile (Investigating Officer), Anthony Groom (former ACSA employee) Rory Roirdan (an author and contextual witness) and the evidence of family witnesses, namely Mandisa Hashe (daughter of Sipho Hashe) and Rita Nomali Galela, wife of Champion Galela. The only surviving person of interest, Mamasela, is due to give evidence at the second sitting of the inquest which will be listed in 2027. However, he is arguing that he is mentally unfit to testify. A medical assessment is underway.
The Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) stands in solidarity with the Hashe, Godolozi and Galela families. While the Godolozi family has elected not to participate in the inquest, all three families remain represented by attorneys Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc. Appearing as counsel on behalf of the families are Advocates Howard Varney and Lwazi Nkosi.
For more information please contact:
Foundation for Human Rights:
Jessie Waldman / jwaldman@fhr.org.za / +27 78 644 8258
Vuya Nako / vnako@fhr.org.za / +27 81 002 7473
