PRESS RELEASE
To: All Media
Attn: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters
For Immediate Release
Date: Friday, 10 May 2024
Trial in the Historic COSAS 4 Case
Issued by the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC)
The trial regarding the 1982 kidnapping and murder of the “COSAS 4” anti-apartheid activists is scheduled to commence on May 14, 2024, at the Johannesburg High Court. The trial is set down until 27 May 2024.
This case is deeply significant, resonating with the painful history of apartheid-era atrocities. It involves the tragic deaths of Eustice “Bimbo” Madikela, Peter “Ntshingo” Matabane, Fanyana Nhlapo, and the severe injury of Zandisile Musi on 15 February 1982. Their lives were abruptly cut short by the Security Branch of the South African Police, leaving lasting scars on their families and communities.
The accused, Christiaan Siebert Rorich (a former Security Branch Officer) and Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa (an askari), were refused amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Other members of the Security Branch who were denied amnesty in relation to the COSAS 4 murders, including Carel Coetzee, Willem Frederick Schoon and Abraham Grobbelaar are now deceased. Rorich and Mfalapitsa now face charges of kidnapping, murder, and crimes against humanity, marking a pivotal moment in the pursuit of justice.
Since the indictments were issued in August and November 2021, the commencement of the trial has been marred by delays. In particular, the trial was significantly delayed by the SAPS’s refusal to cover the reasonable costs of Rorich’s defence and the failure by the State Attorney’s Office and Rorich’s defence team to confirm their fee arrangement since the court ruled in May 2022 that Rorich be granted state support. At the last court hearing scheduled for the trial to begin, on 22 January 2024, Rorich’s legal team sought and obtained another postponement because the fee arrangement with the State Attorney’s office had still not been finalised in time. The Judge re-iterated that this would be the last postponement granted.
This trial is not just about holding individuals accountable for their actions; it represents a broader quest for truth, reconciliation, and healing in post-apartheid South Africa, confronting the injustices of the past head-on.
End/
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
