‘Deaths of slain Cradock Four left a hole in the community’
Goniwe is the first witness to take the stand at the second sitting of the Cradock Four inquest.
The nephew of the late Matthew Goniwe, Mbulelo Goniwe, says that the deaths of the Cradock Four left a hole in the community.
Goniwe is the first witness to take the stand at the second sitting of the Cradock Four inquest in Gqeberha.
The inquest seeks to determine whether anyone can be held liable for the deaths of the political activists Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkhonto, collectively known as the Cradock Four.
The nephew fought alongside his uncle against the apartheid regime and spoke about all the structures the activists put in place to revolutionise the country.
According to him, these structures were among the reasons the Security Branch Force surveilled them. Goniwe described his uncle as a father figure and a friend.
“It is a role that he embraced fully. He remained a role model that all of us and most of us wanted to be like. And even in the critical moments in my life, when I was about to be circumcised, I had to pay him a visit while he was in prison to talk to him about just giving me counsel.”
He says when members of the Cradock Four were at the forefront of the struggle, he was right next to them.
Goniwe say the death of the slain activists left a major crack in their structures.
“They were left behind, but they themselves could not do work in any effective way because these structures collapsed – that was the amount of disruption that occurred in our structures…And the impact that goes out is felt even today in the democratic South Africa.”
Goniwe will be back on the stand tomorrow.
Once his testimony concludes, South African Defence Force Deputy Minister, General Bantu Holomisa will take the stand next.
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