Cradock Four

TRC Inquiry | Cele concedes apartheid-era cases should have been prioritised decades ago

Former Police Minister, Bheki Cele, has conceded that the state failed apartheid victims’ families by allowing cases involving murdered and missing activists to languish for decades, acknowledging that they should have been treated as urgent priorities. Under sustained cross-examination at the TRC Cases Inquiry on Thursday, Cele agreed that families should not have been forced to endure decades-long waits for answers and justice. The former minister, who returned to the […]

August 27, 2026 70

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TRC Cases Inquiry | Political interference, false allegations stalled apartheid-era prosecutions: Macadam

Former Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Chris Macadam, says political interference in apartheid-era prosecutions reached the highest levels of government, with senior police officials and government ministers allegedly obstructing the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) efforts to pursue long-delayed cases. Testifying at the TRC Cases Inquiry on Wednesday, Macadam detailed how political manoeuvring, missing dockets and attempts to impose executive control over prosecutions contributed to years of delays in cases […]

August 26, 2026 71

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TRC Cases Inquiry | Lamola pressed over delays in apartheid-era prosecutions

Former Justice Minister, Ronald Lamola, has faced intense questioning over whether government failed to act decisively on unresolved apartheid-era cases prosecutions. Lamola returned to the TRC Cases Inquiry in Newtown on Monday for cross-examination by human rights lawyer, Advocate Howard Varney, who represents families of the Cradock Four. Varney questioned Lamola on the implications of the landmark Rodriguez judgment, which found that executive decisions had prevented the National Prosecuting Authority […]

August 24, 2026 52

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TRC cases inquiry | Pikoli testimony reveals why Cradock Four justice stalled

More than three decades after the brutal killing of the Cradock Four, testimony before the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry has laid bare a troubling picture of political fears, missing evidence and institutional resistance that stalled efforts to prosecute apartheid-era crimes. Former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, told the inquiry he shares the view of victims’ families that the case involving the slain anti-apartheid activists was not meaningfully pursued […]

March 13, 2026 172 1