NPA headquarters
GQEBERHA – An inquest into the deaths of anti-apartheid activists Sipho Samuel Hashe, Qaqawuli Godolozi and Twasile Champion Galela, known as the PEBCO Three, will be held at the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in Gqeberha.
Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has approved the inquest to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three leaders of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO), which was affiliated with the United Democratic Front (UDF).
The trio disappeared on 8 May 1985 after leaving their homes to meet a prospective donor at what was then Hendrik Verwoerd Airport, now Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.
Their fate remained unknown until November 1997, when former Security Branch policeman Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt disclosed details of their abduction and murder during his Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) amnesty application.
Nieuwoudt testified that he had paid a police informant to pose as a British embassy official to lure the three activists to the meeting under the pretext of discussing a potential donation to PEBCO.
According to his testimony, Security Branch members abducted the men at the airport and took them to the abandoned Post Chalmers police station near Cradock, now Nxuba.
There, the activists were interrogated, stripped, beaten, repeatedly suffocated, drugged and strangled before their bodies were burnt on a diesel-soaked pyre. Some of their remains were allegedly thrown into the nearby Fish River.
Ten other Security Branch members, including askaris, also applied for amnesty in connection with the killings.
However, amnesty was granted to only two applicants, and only for conspiracy to commit murder, abduction and assault. Both have since died.
Nieuwoudt, Johannes Martin “Sakkie” van Zyl and Johannes Koole were subsequently indicted in the Gqeberha High Court following the TRC hearings. However, the case could not proceed because of interlocutory applications and the subsequent deaths of all three accused.
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Eastern Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Luxolo Tyali, said no formal inquest had previously been held into the deaths.
It said the inquest was necessary to ensure that all relevant facts and evidence were presented before the court, allowing it to make appropriate findings.
“The NPA and its partners will continue its efforts of addressing the atrocities of the past and assist in providing closure to the families of the victims of these crimes,” Tyali said.