Permanent Removal: Who Killed the Cradock Four?

Goniwe, Calata, Mkonto and Mhlauli--the "Cradock Four"--were key leadership figures in the Eastern Cape region in the 1980s, and their murders are often regarded as the beginnings of revolution in South Africa. Yet despite widespread suspicion of police or defense force involvement in the deaths, the 1989 inquest found "no acceptable evidence ... that any member of the Force had anything whatsoever to do with the killings." From 1989 and after, former foot soldiers of the apartheid government started exposing the counter-revolutionary tactics authorized by highest levels within government. In 1992 ex-Commandant Lourens du Plessis leaked a highly sensitive document to the press. Dated 7 June 1985 and addressed to General van Rensburg, a member of the State Security Council, it proposed the "permanent removal from society" of Goniwe and Calata. On 8 May 1992 President FW de Klerk reopened the inquest. This is the fascinating story of the search for the people ultimately responsible for the deaths of the Cradock Four. Written in the style of a thriller but based on factual documentation and court records, it recounts the investigations and political intrigue around the murders. It also demonstrates how this notorious case, more than any other, exposed the inner workings of the State Security Council--even if the masterminds continued to remain immune from prosecution in South Africa's fledgling democracy.