PRESS RELEASE
To: All Media
ATT: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters
For Immediate Release
13 June 2025
Urgent Action Needed: SANDF Must Fund Legal Representation for General van der Westhuizen to Avoid Cradock 4 Inquest Delays
Statement by the Cradock 4 families and the Foundation for Human Rights
The families of the late Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkonto, known as the Cradock 4, along with the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) call on the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans to provide funding urgently for the legal representation of retired Lieutenant General Christoffel “Joffel” Pierre van der Westhuizen, to allow the third judicial inquest into the deaths of the Cradock 4 to continue without further delay.
The third reopened inquest into the murders of Cradock 4, which took place in the Gqeberha High Court from 2 to 11 June 2025, only included testimony from families and their witnesses. Testimony from former state officials, including van der Westhuizen, is scheduled for 13-24 October but remains at risk of further postponement unless funding for their legal representation is secured. Without the resolution of this issue, the inquest remains incomplete, and justice is being delayed further.
Van der Westhuizen, now 82, was the commanding officer of the Eastern Province Command and served on the Local Joint Management Committee of the State Security Council at the time of the murders. He has been implicated in the planning of the murders; he ordered the signal on 7 June 1985 to “permanently remove” the Cradock 4 “from society.” He never applied for amnesty before the TRC.
By contrast, the three surviving police officers implicated in the killings have received state-funded legal assistance, albeit belatedly, highlighting the inconsistency in the state’s handling of legal support for the persons of interest.
This inquest may be the last opportunity to hear directly from those implicated in the Cradock 4 murders. The families of the Cradock 4 have waited 40 years for accountability, 31 of them under democratic rule. They should not be made to wait any longer.
/END
Relevant documents related to the 3rd reopened inquest can be accessed HERE.
Media queries:
On behalf of the families:
Lukhanyo Calata: 082 394 6481
Lonwabo Mkonto: 078 335 9144
Ntsika Mhlauli: 082 572 6462
Nyaniso Goniwe: 068 958 5520
Foundation for Human Rights: Zaid Kimmie zkimmie@fhr.org.za / 082 883 4934
Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr: Tebello Mosoeu Tebello.Mosoeu@cdhlegal.com / 073 368 8200
Background:
On 27 June 1985, the Cradock 4 were abducted, tortured, murdered, and their bodies burned by members of the apartheid-era Security Branch. Their deaths were part of a broader strategy by the regime to eliminate community leaders and suppress growing resistance. The operation was designed to appear as a vigilante attack—a tactic commonly used to conceal state-sponsored killings.
Two earlier inquests failed to produce justice. The first, under Magistrate De Beer, was a whitewash. The second, under Judge Neville Zietsman in 1992, concluded that the security forces were responsible and that a prima facie case existed against two police and three military officers. Yet no charges followed.
Eight individuals later applied for amnesty before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC); most were denied. Since then, all six police operatives believed to have carried out the murders have died, as have the key masterminds and many senior apartheid officials. In recent years, more critical figures have passed away, including former State President FW de Klerk, former SAP Commissioner Johannes van der Merwe, and former Intelligence chief Neil Barnard.
In July 2021, Lukhanyo Calata together with the Mhlauli and Mkonto families filed an application to compel the NPA and DPCI to conclude the investigation and make a prosecutorial decision but the litigation was put on hold to allow the NPA and the police to finalize the investigation. In March 2023, the FHR’s and families’ legal team also submitted a detailed analysis of the available evidence, recommending prosecutions of some of the surviving suspects. The last surviving individual against whom there was prima facie case, H B du Plessis, passed away in mid-June 2023.
In early 2024, the Minister of Justice announced the reopening of the third inquest into the deaths of the Cradock 4 activists. The inquest was scheduled from 2-27 September 2024. However, on 2 September 2024, the inquest was postponed to June 2, 2025. The postponement occurred notwithstanding strenuous efforts by the families to ensure a timely start. Legal representatives of the former South Africa Police (SAP) and South African Defence Forces (SADF) witnesses failed to secure state funding for their legal costs.
