Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
02-April 1998
NIETVERDIEND: 60 KMS FROM BOTSWANA BORDER.
The TRC in collaboration with Khulumani, a support group for victims, is to visit the site on Friday 2 April, where 12 Mamelodi youths were killed by police in June 1986.
A short prayer service and traditional rituals will be held at the spot, at Nietverdiend near the Botswana border, where the youths were killed.
The youths, who were students at the time, were led to their deaths by former Askari Joe Mamasela, who infiltrated the group under false pretences that he was an MK soldier and could arrange for them to undergo military training. At Nietvediend, the youths were shot and their Kombi was subsequently blown up with explosives while they were inside.
The parents of the youths did not know the whereabouts of their children until Mamasela broke the story in a newspaper interview ten years later. Former Northern Transvaal security policemen under the command of Brigadier Jack Cronje have applied for amnesty for the killings.
Journalists wishing to cover the event can meet TRC officials and family members at the 1st BP garage on the road entering Rustenberg from Johannesburg and Pretoria, at 8am tomorrow. Alternatively, they can drive to Madikwe Police Station at 9am for directions to Nietverdiend.
For information call Mbulelo Sompetha at 082-452 7870.