Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
STATEMENT BY THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN CAPE OFFICES OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION ON GUGULETU SEVEN MEMORIAL SERVICE
26 FEBRUARY 1997
The families of the Guguletu Seven will have a memorial service and programme for the deceased this weekend, exactly eleven years after they died. The TRC is facilitating at the request of their families. This follows special event hearings on the seven, at which five of the families testified and the evidence of a wide range of witnesses and policemen were heard.
Seven young men died, allegedly in a shoot-out at the hands of police, on 3 March, 1986 in Guguletu. Two consecutive inquests cleared the police. They were also absolved from culpability during a trial involving journalist, Tony Weaver, subsequent to the event.
During the hearings - in November 1996 and February 1997 - evidence emerged that the security police unit at Vlakplaas might have been involved in the killing.
The Guguletu 7 were: Zandisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Godfrey Jabulani Miya, Themba Mlifi, Zabonke John Konile and Christopher Piet.
The families will meet at the Guguletu Sports Centre at 07h00 am on Sunday, March 2, to leave for Paarl, where Mjobo was buried, to once more pay their respects. (Travel arrangements only for families. Journalists welcome to come on their own to the graveyard in Mbokweni, Paarl.) From there the families will travel to the graveyard in Guguletu where the other six were buried in 1986 at a service attended by about 30 000 people. At the time no banners, posters, placards or pamphlets were permitted to be displayed.
After the service the families will proceed to the NY1 Methodist Church for closure.
On Monday, March 3, eleven years after their death, the families and relatives will march to the massacre spot. Members of the faith community, schools and political organisations, as well as all interested members of the public, are welcome to participate. The march will proceed to NY1 and NY111 at 09h30 am from the Guguletu Sports Centre.
The Investigative Unit of the Western Cape Region subpoenaed nine policemen to Human Rights Violations hearings in November on the Guguletu Seven to give evidence on the matter in terms of Section 29 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act (1995).
Due to time constraints on 28 November 1996, the evidence of only three of them were heard. The three were: Superintendent William Rudolf Liebenberg, Senior Superintendent John Johannes George Christoffel Kleyn and retired Colonel Cornelius Adolf Janse Odendal.
The other six policemen were heard at a hearing in Athlone on 17 and 18 February. These six are (with current ranks): Senior Superintendent John Martin Sterrenberg; Director Leonard Knipe; Detective Inspector Karel Bothma; Detective Inspector Andre Grobbelaar; Inspector Bertram Oswald Moggee; Detective Inspector Louis Ferdinand Coetzee.
For further inquiries please call Christelle at 0824588461.