Exactly 36 years after anti-apartheid activist from Bethal in the then eastern Transvaal, Nokuthula Simelane, was allegedly abducted and killed by the apartheid police, more people are still demanding answers.
The MKMVA (uMkhonto Wesizwe Military Veterans Association) says a lot of unexplained things happened that led to Simelane’s disappearance at Carlton Centre in Johannesburg in 1983. She was 23 at the time of her disappearance.
Recently her family applied to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to declare her provisionally dead pending opposition from her alleged killers. The order was granted on June 6 this year.
Speaking to Independent Media about their desire, the association’s spokesperson Carl Niehaus said there were many incidents which needs to be probed so that the truth can be known and families of victims find closure.
“It might be a good idea to renew that position to say that there must be an investigation. But it’s a standing position of the MKMVA that we are looking to know and we want to understand what happened there,” Niehaus said.
The calls for investigations comes amid renewed allegations that Simelane and her crew which was in Johannesburg to conduct an operation, was sold out to apartheid police by senior commanders of the MK based in Swaziland.
For that Niehaus said a lot of strange things happened that needs to be explained those implicated be held accountable sooner than later.
“Some very things things happened there and there are allegations that are being made and we are concerned hence we want them to be investigated.”
Niehaus said the case of Simelane - whose bravery as a women is in MK circles equated to only the bravery of people like the current minister of social development, Lindiwe Zulu, Makhosi Nyoka (murdered by apartheid police), Thandi Modise, the current national assembly speaker and Phila Ndwandwe (also murdered by apartheid police) - is not the only one they want to be investigated.