Cradock Four: Fort Calata’s son says betrayal by post-apartheid leaders cut the deepest

GQEBERHA - With the reopened inquest into the assassination of the Cradock Four, the son of Fort Calata has told the Gqeberha High Court that the betrayal by political leaders post-apartheid cut the deepest.

Matthew Goniwe, Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkhonto were killed by security branch police in 1985 while on their way from a meeting in Port Elizabeth.

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But two inquests later, and several testimonies before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), nobody has been tried for their murders.

Lukhanyo Calata struggled to keep his tears back as he told the Gqeberha High Court how he felt about the failures of political leaders in democratic South Africa to prosecute his father’s killers.

He’s pointed out that some of the people who served as presidents, ministers, premiers and ambassadors were present at his father’s funeral in July 1985.

"It’s a betrayal, ma’am, that cuts right to the bone. Some of them were people that had served in the trenches with my father. But it feels as if as soon as they got into political office and they started enjoying the fruits of the freedom for which my father died for. They completely forgot about us."

Calata told the court that he understood that the apartheid government would not kill his father and his comrades and then prosecute itself for the crime, but he did not understand why African National Congress (ANC) governments over the last 30 years had not held apartheid killers accountable.

Calata’s testimony will continue on Friday morning.