PRESS RELEASE
To: All Media
ATT: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters
For Immediate Release
11 March 2025
The Minister formally reopens inquests into the deaths of Matthews Mabelane and the enforced disappearance of Boiki Tlhapi
Press statement issued by the Foundation for Human Rights Press and law firm, Bowmans
The Mabelane and Tlhapi families, together with the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and Bowmans, welcome the formal reopening of the inquests into the deaths and disappearances of two anti-apartheid activists, Nicholas Ramatua “Boiki” Tlhapi and Matthews Mabelane. However, the families have expressed their disappointment that as yet no dates have been set for the hearing of these inquests.
Nicholas Ramatua “Boiki” Tlhapi, an anti-apartheid activist from Ikageng, Potchefstroom, was arrested in 1986 and detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act. Shortly after his arrest, and amid allegations of interrogation and assault, he disappeared. His family has been searching for him—or his remains—ever since. A 1994 inquest found no evidence of unnatural causes of death.
Matthews Mabelane, a member of the Soweto Students’ Representative Council, allegedly fell to his death from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square while in detention. An inquest held at the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on 30 May 1977 accepted the police’s version of events without question. Magistrate WP Dormehl found that Mabelane had attempted to escape by climbing out of the window of a 10th floor interrogation room and accidentally fell from a ledge, whereafter he died from multiple injuries sustained in the fall.
Following recommendations from the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development approved the reopening of the inquests—Tlhapi’s in November 2024 and Mabelane’s in February 2025.
The decision in the Mabelane case came after the legal team representing Matthews Mabelane’s family submitted detailed representations to the NDPP, urging the reopening of the inquest into Matthews’s death. The submission included two expert medical forensic reports and a trajectory report that debunked the police version of events.
On 13 December 2024, the Minister of Justice requested the Judge President of the North-West Division to appoint a judge to preside over the reopened Tlhapi inquest. A similar request for the Mabelane case has yet to be made.
While Bowmans, the FHR, and the families remain committed to working collaboratively with the NPA on both inquests, it is essential that the process moves forward without further delay.
The Mabelane and Tlhapi families are among 25 families and survivors of apartheid-era political crimes who have filed an application against President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government, seeking constitutional damages for the political suppression of apartheid-era political crimes following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process.
In an interview with Poloko Tau from City Press, Tlhapi’s father, who is now deceased, expressed his anguish: “How can I sleep at night knowing my son’s body, which was last seen battered and bloodied in a police station office, might have been lying at the bottom of a disused mine shaft for the past 30 years?”
Similarly, the Mabelane family has never accepted the official version that nobody was to blame for Matthews’ death and has been pushing to reopen the inquest for several years. This struggle was initially spearheaded by Matthews’ father, Philip Mabelane and his brother, Lasch Mabelane. Philip died on 9 May 2018, while Lasch died on 6 August 2020, without reaching closure.
The families welcome the long-awaited decision to reopen the inquests and hope for a swift resolution of both cases, allowing them to find closure and begin the healing process.
/END
Foundation for Human Rights
Zaid Kimmie / 082 883 4934 or Mosa Leteane / 076 707 8600
