Kaya 959 Reporter
It has been 36 years since the murder by the apartheid state of the four anti-apartheid activists, Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli, known as the Cradock Four, a tragic event which happened on June 27, 1985.
In the wake of the death of FW De Klerk, the Fort Calata Foundation, released a statement where they said De Klerk’s death opened old wounds and that he “has robbed the Cradock Four families of the truth about the murders of their husbands and father”.
@FortCalata Foundation’s statement following the death of FW De Klerk. @lukhanyocalata pic.twitter.com/MUQuviMfWc
— Fort Calata Foundation (@FortCalata) November 11, 2021
Also Read: Pearl Thusi calls for no state funeral for former president FW De Klerk
The statement said that De Klerk sat on the meetings of the state security council where the fate of Fort Calata and Matthew Goniwe were discussed from 1984 to 1985.
May the Cradock Four Rest In Peace 🙏 👊 pic.twitter.com/xTuDGQUnwM
— The African Child (@theafricanchild) November 12, 2021
Lukhanyo Calata, the son of Fort Calata and author of a book on the Cradock Four titled “My Father Died for This“ recently joined Point of View with Phemelo Motene to remember the life and time of the Cradock Four.
“Remember three out of the Cradock Four were actually teachers, so they valued education a lot. They valued young children, and the sold a potential in young children in Cradock, they saw that the future is obviously in the youth.
“Everything that they did, for instance my father was the President of the Youth Association at the same time he was the treasurer of the Cradock Residence Association, so he was this link between the Youth Association and the Youth Association, and to a large extent the youth was so disciplined.
“My mom often tells the story of how at night they were encouraged to sleep by the backdoor so no one would enter. That’s the kind of people they were and that’s the kind of discipline they were able to instill in the youth.”
He also spoke how they reshaped their community, essentially decreasing the crime rate, and that their vision was to replicate the successes in other communities.
“Once they were governing themselves, they then wanted to take that model to say this is how we did it in Ilinge’lishe, so you too in Port Elizabeth, in Graff Reinet, in Grahamstown, in Port Alfred, in Priyska, if you guys use our model, you are guaranteed to govern yourself as well. Its was that that made the such a big target for the apartheid government”
In 1987, a two-year inquest began into the deaths of the Cradock Four, and was presided over by Magistrate, E. De Beer, who, on February 22, 1989, concluded that Goniwe, Mhlauli, Mkonto and Calata had been killed by ‘unknown persons’.
