PRESS RELEASE
To: All Media
Attn: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters
For Immediate Release
Date: Thursday, 16 May 2024
Trial in the Historic COSAS 4 Case Postponed Again
Issued by the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC)
On 14 May 2024, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg postponed the commencement of the trial into the murder of Eustice ‘Bimbo’ Madikela, Peter “Ntshingo” Matabane, and Fanyana Nhlapo, and the attempted murder of Zandisile Musi. The four anti-apartheid activists were members of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), collectively known as the ‘COSAS 4’.
Christiaan Siebert Rorich and Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa are charged with kidnapping, murder and crimes against humanity of murder and apartheid (read with the section 232 of the Constitution). They never received amnesty during the TRC process.
Even though the accused were formally indicted in August 2021 with international charges having been added in November 2021, Rorich’s legal representatives made a last-minute application before the 14 May hearing for postponement to challenge the inclusion of international law charges. A last-minute application for postponement was also made by Mfalapitsa’s legal representative, who has requested the court to delay criminal trial pending the outcome of judicial review proceedings brought to challenge the decision of the TRC which refused Mfalapitsa amnesty for the crimes he is now charged with.
Continued trial delays are devastating for the family members as they continue to seek justice and criminal accountability for their loved ones. The repeated delays in the commencement of the trial have caused immeasurable harm to the families who have been waiting for justice for 42 years.
30 years into democracy, the families of the COSAS 4 and of other apartheid victims are yet to obtain justice. These cases may become historic examples of the maxim “Justice delayed, Justice denied”.
The commencement of the criminal trial has now been postponed with all these matters under the judicial case management of Judge Dario Dosio. The next return date for the further progressing of these matters is 6 June 2024.
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Background
Eustice “Bimbo” Madikela, Peter “Ntshingo” Matabane, Fanyana Nhlapo, and Zandisile Musi were students from Kagiso, a township in Gauteng, and members of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), an organisation affiliated with the then-banned African National Congress (ANC). Collectively known as the COSAS 4, their lives were forever altered on February 15, 1982, when they were lured to an explosive-rigged pump house by informers associated with the Security Branch.
Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa, once a friend of Musi’s brothers in the ANC’s military branch, later became an ‘Askari’, collaborating with the Security Branch. Carel Coetzee, Willem Frederick Schoon, and Abraham Grobbelaar masterminded the operation. Mfalapitsa and Rorich, along with other perpetrators, carried out their orders, resulting in the deaths of Madikela, Matabane, and Nhlapo, and the grievous injury of Musi.
To access the full record of papers in the COSAS 4 matter see: https://unfinishedtrc.co.za/future-cases/#COSAS-3-Zandisile-Musi
The COSAS 4 families are supported by the Foundation for Human Rights and represented by the Legal Resources Centre on a watching brief in the criminal trial.
For more information and media contact:
Zaid Kimmie (Foundation for Human Rights) at zkimmie@fhr.org.za or 082 883 4934
Moray Hathorn (Legal Resources Centre) at moray@lrc.org.za
See the “Unfinished Business of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission” Programme website at https://unfinishedtrc.co.za