Johannesburg - The Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team, responsible for investigating cases from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), is requesting the assistance of the public in tracing witnesses and next of kin of victims of apartheid-era crimes.
The Hawks said most of the victims were reported to have committed suicide while in detention, and others were allegedly shot while escaping from lawful custody.
The victims from Gauteng, the North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo are Mohammed Faizel Abrams, William Nomedi Tshwane, Jundea Bolowa Tubakwa, Nonoath Ntshintsha and Hanguala Shonyeka or James Hamakwayo.
Abrams had an altercation with police in 1988, and during the argument, he was shot and killed in Standerton, Mpumalanga. Tshwane was allegedly shot and killed by police while trying to escape. He died at Modderbee Prison on July 25, 1976, following his arrest for possession of a suspected stolen motor vehicle.
Tubakwa died in Pretoria Central a day after his arrest for terrorism. He was discovered dead, having apparently committed suicide.
Ntshintsha allegedly committed suicide in 1977 at John Voster Square.
Shonyeka or Hamakwayo died in Pretoria Central in October 1966 of an alleged suicide.
The victims from the Free State and Northern Cape are Ernest Mamashila, Philip Nwanemantsu, Busi Mzala Majola and Sipho Dlamini, Petros and Jabulile Nyawose, Betty Boom, Nomasonto Mashiya, Tex Sejanamne and Mbulelo Ngono.
Mamashila was detained in Brakpan SAPS and later transferred to Balfour SAPS, where he allegedly committed suicide in 1976. Nwanemantsu, Majola and Dlamini were allegedly killed on June 4, 1986, at a place called Dalraid Section in Mbabane, Swaziland.
The Nyawoses were killed in a car bomb on June 4, 1982, in Matsapa village near Manzini in Swaziland.
Boom, Mashiya, Sejanamne and Ngono were kidnapped between December 1987 and March 1988 by former members of the Ladybrand security branch and were never seen again.
The Hawks said the victims from the Eastern Cape are Gwaza Twalo, James Tyita, Pongoloshe Hoye and Ngeni Gaga.
Twalo was arrested by members of the Wellington security branch in Mthatha, Glamorgan, and Aliwal North prisons, but no records could be found.
His last known address is 243rd Avenue, Norwood, Mthatha. Tyita, Hoye and Gaga were on separate occasions arrested by former Transkei Security members (SAP) in 1965 and died 24 hours after their arrest.
The victim from the Western Cape is Tyantoni Bellington Mampe. Mampe was a Poqo activist. He died in a prison hospital in September 1963 after being held at Worcester Prison for 140 days. Before his arrest, he lived in Guguletu; he was 30 years old when he died. He was detained with Bless Vuyisile.
The Hawks said the victims’ bodies not recovered were: Mlahleni Ignatius Mthebule, Boikie Thlapi, Jacobus van der Merwe, Marutle, Simphiwo Mtimkhulu, Topsy Madaka, Solomzi China Talakumeni and Gwaza Duckworth Thwalo.
Mthebule was an MK member operating around East Rand between 1986 and 1987. He was infiltrated by members of the Security Branch and disappeared.
Thlapi was a political activist in Klerksdorp and Stilfontein. He was arrested by police, and there is a witness who saw his body wrapped in a refuse bag.
Van der Merwe offered MK members a lift in November 1978; along the way, they reportedly killed him and stole his vehicle; his body was never recovered.
Marutle was the driver of a bakery truck and recruited workers to join Cosatu in 1972. He was reportedly captured in South Africa by Ian Smith’s Forces of then-Rhodesia, and he was never seen again.
Mtimkhulu and Madaka were driving to Livingstone Hospital in the Eastern Cape for a check-up on April 14, 1982, and never returned home.
Talakumeni was shot by Transkei police members in 1986 and died the following day.
Thwalo, who was a medical doctor in KwaZulu-Natal, disappeared between 1978 and 1979 in Zambia, where he had gone for military training. He left the country in 1972 and allegedly met Adias Josias Chabalala, Buti Johannes Malebo and Mkhwezi Macdonald in Francistown.
The Hawks called on anyone with any information about these apartheid crime victims to contact Colonel MB Nkuna on 071 330 2219 or email MalepoF@saps.gov.za.
The Star