Remains of Pebco 3 found?

2007-07-17 07:34

Pretoria - The National Prosecuting Authority's spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi says human remains believed to be those of the "Pebco Three," who were murdered by apartheid-era police, have been found on a farm near Cradock.

Lesufi said NPA investigators followed up several leads and discovered the remains on the Cradock farm known as Post Chalmers that previously had belonged to the police.

The Pebco Three - Sipho Hashe, Qaqawuli Godolozi and Champion Galela -were kidnapped by the security police at the Port Elizabeth airport in 1985 and subsequently murdered on the farm.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission refused four security policemen amnesty in 1999 for their involvement in the crime.

The amnesty applications of Herman Barend du Plessis, Johannes Martin van Zyl, Gideon Nieuwoudt and Gerhardus Johannes Lotz were heard in Port Elizabeth in 1997.

The widows of the victims opposed the amnesty applications, saying there had not been full disclosure.

The four told the TRC that they had burnt the bodies of the murdered activists and thrown the remains into the Fish River.

Lesufi said he hoped that the discovery would force the remaining officers - Nieuwoudt has since died - to come forward and assist the NPA.

He said forensic investigations were continuing to establish whether the remains were definitely those of the three.

The only senior security force officer to be granted amnesty in the case was former Port Elizabeth security force head Harold Snyman, who has since died.

- SAPA