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'Cradock four' records go public
14/09/2006 11:29 - (SA)
Pretoria - Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) records on the murdered "Cradock four" anti-apartheid activists will be made public under an order granted by the Pretoria High Court on Thursday.
The Department of Justice, which is the custodian of the TRC records, reached an agreement with the SA History Archive (SAHA) and film maker David Forbes, who have been trying to get access the records for the past two years. The agreement was made an order of court.
Under the settlement Forbes would get access to the records within the next 30 days and SAHA would also make copies to keep in its own archive.
"It is a great victory not only for freedom of speech and freedom of information but also for the freedoms the Cradock four fought for," Forbes said.
Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli were kidnapped in 1985 by security policemen while returning to Cradock from a meeting in Port Elizabeth.
De Kock got amnesty
They were then taken to Olifantshoek Pass and later to Port Elizabeth where they were assaulted, killed and their bodies and their vehicle burnt.
Seven former policemen - Eric Alexander Taylor, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Nicholas Janse van Rensburg, Harold Snyman, Johan Martin van Zyl, Hermanus Barend du Plessis and Eugene de Kok - applied for amnesty for the murders. De Kok was the only one granted amnesty by the TRC. He is serving a life prison term for other crimes.
Forbes is making a documentary film about the life of the activists, but has not yet had access to the TRC records.
"It was a history of obstruction and delays. So we started the legal process. Now we have access to the records," Forbes said.
He hoped to complete his documentary some time next year.
"It is a story about who these young men were and what made them so dangerous to the state," he said.
He said the focus of the film would be on the life of the Cradock four and not about their murders.
Forbes is planning to set up a trust fund with the widows of the four being the majority shareholders, with the profits of the film going to the fund.
Kate Allan, co-ordinator of the Freedom of Information programme at the SA History Archive, said the SAHA hoped that the court order would help ease their access to other TRC records held by the department.
"We have several applications pending some on appeal an I hope this court order would help us assist in getting access to the records we are looking for," she said.
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