The so-called Cradock Four were abducted and murdered while returning home to the southern town of Cradock in June 1985 after a meeting.
The bodies of the four — Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli — were discovered days later, badly burnt and with multiple stab wounds.
The security forces under the apartheid regime were suspected of being behind the killings. But no one has been brought to justice.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said in a statement on Friday that it was “in the interests of justice to finally bring closure to the families of the deceased who have been waiting decades for the truth about who killed their loved ones.”
Two inquests were held — in 1987 and 1993 — but “produced more questions than answers”, the statement said.
Following the end of apartheid in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to uncover the horrors of the white-minority regime.
The TRC found that the South African government, police and security branch were responsible for “a systematic pattern of abuse” that resulted in the “deaths and disappearances of activists”.
In the case of the Cradock Four, members of the security forces “revealed how and why the deceased were killed, 14 years after the gruesome deaths of the deceased”, the ministry said.
The TRC offered amnesty to those who gave a full accounting of their crimes, although it was denied to suspects involved in the Cradock Four deaths.
The National Prosecuting Authority Service has called for the re-opening of the case to present evidence from the TRC that was not considered in the previous inquiries.
Lamola said the move was needed for “confidence in the justice system to be restored.”
AFP
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