Holomisa details apartheid government's hidden agendas

The inquest into the murders of the Cradock Four has been hearing how the state's vast security apparatus did its dirty work. By Riaan Marais and Estelle Ellis

- Riaan Marais and Estelle Ellis

Although he had no personal knowledge about the plot to have the Cradock Four killed in 1985, Deputy Minister of Defence Bantu Holomisa was drawn into the case seven years later when he was asked to arrange a clandestine meeting between a South African military official and former president Nelson Mandela.

Colonel Lourens du Plessis had told Holomisa that he had sensitive information he needed to share with Mandela. This included a half-page document in Afrikaans — a copy of the “security signal” containing the orders that resulted in the arrests and deaths of anti-apartheid activists Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli, Sparrow Mkonto and Matthew Goniwe.

During his testimony in the High Court in Gqeberha on Tuesday, 14 October, at what is the third inquest into the death of the Cradock Four, Holomisa shed light on the apartheid government’s underhanded tactics to “manufacture conflict” in attempts to further its own agenda.

The first inquest, in 1987, concluded that the men had been killed by “unknown persons”. The second inquest, in 1993, was presided over by the then judge president of the Eastern Cape, Neville Zietsman.

Although this inquest could not identify the killers, it found that the security signal was a recommendation to murder, the security forces were responsible for the deaths, and a case of suspicion had been made against two police officers and three military officers. Despite several high-ranking police and military officials being implicated, no one was prosecuted.