PRESS RELEASE

To: All Media

ATT: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters

For Immediate Release

8 August 2025

INQUEST INTO THE 1993 HIGHGATE MASSACRE RESUMES IN EAST LONDON, ON 11 AUGUST 2025 

Statement by the Foundation for Human Rights  

The inquest into the 1 May 1993 Highgate Hotel Massacre will resume on Monday, 11 August 2025, at the Special Tribunal in East London. This follows two earlier sittings in January and March this year and marks another critical step in the long-delayed effort to uncover the truth behind the attack, which claimed five lives and left seven others injured.  

Although the Highgate Hotel Massacre was widely attributed to the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), no amnesty applications were ever filed, and the recent testimony of Letlapa Mphahlele, former APLA Director of Operations, has cast serious doubt on the official narrative. Mphahlele categorically denied the organisation’s involvement, pointing to key contradictions between the attackers’ methods and APLA’s known operations—such as the use of balaclavas and teargas, the choice of weapons, and the absence of any record of the attack in APLA’s seized archives. 

As proceedings resume, survivors and families of the victims continue to seek justice—not only for the events of that night, but for the decades of silence, unanswered questions, and alleged state obstruction that followed. 

Survivors Neville Beling and Karl Weber, and Lyndene Page, sister of the late Deon Harris who tragically lost his life in the attack, represented by FHR and CDH, have been at the forefront of this pursuit. Their story is an example of extraordinary perseverance and a tireless fight for justice. 

Media queries: 

Foundation for Human Rights: Sesetu Holomisa, sholomisa@fhr.org.za/ 071 391 0043 

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr: Paige Winfield, paige.winfield@cdhlegal.com / 082 902 6525  

Background information and court papers related to the case can be accessed HERE.