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The largest constitutional damages lawsuit in the country’s history has been initiated against the government by the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and 25 families of victims and survivors of apartheid-era atrocities.
The suit alleges that the government actively undermined their efforts to achieve justice and closure more than two decades after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
This landmark case, seeking over R167 million, names several key figures, including the government, President Cyril Ramaphosa, Justice Minister Nkhensani Kubayi, National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, and National Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola.
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Lukhanyo Calata’s earliest memory of his father is a haunting one: the funeral. He recalls his mother sobbing, the ground trembling under the weight of mourners gathered at the graveside, and the fear he felt at just three years old as the red coffin containing his father, Fort Calata, was lowered into the earth.
Fort Calata was one of four men, known as the Cradock Four, who were stopped at a roadblock by security officers in June 1985. They were brutally beaten, strangled with telephone wire, and ultimately killed in one of the most infamous atrocities of South Africa’s apartheid era.
In 1999, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) denied amnesty to six security officers involved in the killings, but none were ever prosecuted, and all have since passed away.
Now, Lukhanyo Calata is part of a group of 25 families and survivors seeking justice for apartheid-era violence. They have filed a lawsuit against the South African government for failing to bring his father’s alleged killers to justice. “Losing my father has impacted every fibre of my being,” Calata shared. “We were ultimately betrayed by the people we trusted to lead us into a new society.”
This week, Calata’s case was presented at the high court in Pretoria, demanding an inquiry into why no prosecutions occurred. The lawsuit also seeks “constitutional damages” of 167 million rand (approximately £7.3 million) to fund further investigations, litigation, memorials, and public education initiatives.
A spokesperson for South Africa’s justice minister, named as a respondent in the case, stated that their legal team is reviewing the documents and will respond appropriately, working closely with the National Prosecuting Authority and the presidency.
Last year, the justice ministry reopened an inquest into the Cradock Four killings, but proceedings have faced delays and are not expected to resume until June.
Calata’s court documents allege that “the TRC cases were deliberately suppressed following a plan or arrangement hatched at the highest levels of government.” A 2021 ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal found that investigations into TRC cases were halted from 2003 to 2017 due to executive decisions, which constituted interference with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Thabo Mbeki, who served as South Africa’s president from 1999 to 2008, responded in March 2024, asserting that during his time in office, there was no interference with the NPA’s work. He urged the NPA to investigate and prosecute cases referred to it by the TRC instead of spreading falsehoods.
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Nombuyiselo Mhlauli, whose husband Sicelo was killed alongside Fort Calata and two others, expressed her reluctance to discuss the legal case. Instead, she reminisced about her husband’s warmth and humor. “We were so close to each other,” she said. “I depended on him so much.”
Sicelo was known for his laughter and friendly nature. “Wherever you found him, he was laughing, and everyone around him was laughing too,” recalled Mhlauli, who is also a teacher.
After her husband’s death, Mhlauli faced harassment from security forces who would break down her door at night. In 1989, she fled to Cape Town, where she still resides.
When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and subsequently became South Africa’s first black president, Mhlauli felt a surge of hope. However, the lack of prosecution in the Cradock Four case under Mandela’s African National Congress government has left her feeling hurt and bitter. “I wish the government would come forward and tell us: why did they delay the process?” she lamented.
Additional Source: The Guardian
