Trial 33 years after MK fighter vanished

29/03/2016 Dorah Simelane with a family friend,Thandi Masilela, is seen wearing a t-shirt showing her granddaughter,Nokuthiula Simelane's, face at the Pretoria Magistrate Court moments after the court appearance of the alleged killers of Nokuthula. Picture: Phill Magakoe

29/03/2016 Dorah Simelane with a family friend,Thandi Masilela, is seen wearing a t-shirt showing her granddaughter,Nokuthiula Simelane's, face at the Pretoria Magistrate Court moments after the court appearance of the alleged killers of Nokuthula. Picture: Phill Magakoe

Published Mar 30, 2016

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Pretoria - For more than a month the high court in Pretoria will hear a case on the disappearance of Nokuthula Simelane who was last seen in 1983.

Simelane was a member of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC when she was abducted and never seen again.

Msebenzi Radebe, Willem Coetzee, Anton Pretorius and Frederick Mong briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday in connection with her case. The four accused worked as police officers for the apartheid government under the Soweto security branch.

Each of them is facing a murder charge while Radebe faces an additional charge of kidnapping. They are out on R5 000 bail each.

Radebe said during their first court appearance, in a detailed affidavit, that he had nothing to do with Simelane’s disappearance and alleged murder.

Coetzee, Pretorius and Mong admitted to abducting and torturing her but said they released her near the border of Swaziland in Mpumalanga. They claim she was alive when they last saw her and deny responsibility for anything that happened to her afterwards.

The three received amnesty for her abduction and torture at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). During the TRC they suggested MK could have killed her, knowing that she would have revealed information to the apartheid regime, and could have been turned into an informant.

The three will appear again on July 25 for trial in the high court. The matter is set to end on September 29.

Speaking outside court, Simelane’s sister, Thembi Nkadimeng, said the family was closer to getting closure. “It’s a process that is just about to begin. There is a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel but it does look like there are still some roads I still have to pursue,” she said.

Thembi famously pursued the case for more than a decade after the TRC left some lose strings.

“For 18 years I have covered a good piece of ground. There is still more but I think I’m seeing the end of it. It’s mixed feelings, I want it yet I don’t. It’s painful. It’s saddening but I still think there could have been better ways on how we tried to resolve this but ultimately I was pushed to a court of law.”

She said following the end of the TRC the family was still left with a lot of questions. When they went to the government they were told there were not enough resources to further pursue the matter.

“So the family took it upon itself to take the leads that were left hanging from the TRC.

“We had a private investigator who looked into all those cases to our satisfaction and we went back to the government to insist for our day in court.”

The Simelane family members still wonder where her remains are 33 years since she disappeared and the court case could be the only way they would find closure.

“I think justice for us has already been received. We are walking in a free country. The only thing we are looking for as a family is closure and a proper burial.”

She said her sister was a soldier and went into the Struggle.

They all knew it was a matter of life and death, so they didn’t expect that she would not die or be killed.

“But we also equally believe that we have a right as a family to say here lies our loved one who fought so hard for the South Africa that we are enjoying today. That is the greatest compensation and gift we could receive after the trial.”

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