The trial of two survivors of the men thought to be responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the “Cosas 4” has been postponed to January 2024 after the case resumed at Johannesburg High Court on Monday, over 22 years after the commission of the crime.
The four activists, now referred to as the Cosas 4, were members of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas), and the accused in the trial are the remaining members of an apartheid police squad that carried out an attack in 1982.
On Monday, the High Court of South Africa Gauteng Local Division, Johannesburg, postponed the case against former security branch officers Ephraim Mfalapitsa (67) and Christian Rorich (74) to January 22 for trial.
According to a statement by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the postponement was due to an application brought by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) to be admitted to the proceedings as friends of the court.
The court further set the date of September 23 to hear the application by SALC and the response from both the State and the defence before pronouncing its judgment whether or not to admit SALC as friends of the court.
NPA spokesperson Phindi Louw Mjonondwane said the pair faces five counts ranging from kidnapping, offences that fall under the realm of crimes against humanity such as three counts of murder and apartheid.
She said the charges relate to the kidnapping of those who were known as the Cosas 4: Eustice Madikela, Peter Matabane, Fanyana Nhlapo and Zandile Musi, who were all members of the student formation Cosas.
This incident took place on 15 February 1982, wherein they were allegedly lured to an explosive-infested mine in Krugersdorp by Mfalapitsa under the guise that they were going to receive military training.
Rorich and Mfalapitsa, now elderly, are charged with kidnapping, murder and crimes against humanity of murder and apartheid for unlawfully and intentionally killing the the students in the context of “a systemic attack or elimination of political opponents of the apartheid regime”.
“Once at that location, the explosives were allegedly detonated, killing three of them. Musi escaped with serious injuries.
“Mfalapitsa was an askari and was in a close relationship with Musi’s elder brothers, who served in Umkhonto weSizwe, a military wing of the African National Congress (ANC) in exile. Musi had intentions of leaving South Africa to join the ANC with his comrades. He discussed his desires with Mfalapitsa, who reported the conversations with Musi to his Commander, Jan Carel Coetzee. The plan was then allegedly hatched to kill Musi and his comrades, with their deaths covered up as a military training that went wrong,” Mjonondwane said.
She said in spite of delays to the case, the NPA is committed to seeing the matter being finalised.
“The NPA remains committed in delivering justice to the families of the Cosas 4 and was ready to proceed with trial. We will continue doing our best to ensure that this matter is brought to finality, with the aim of bringing the affected families closer to realising justice,” she said.