File
The families of the slain anti-apartheid activists known as the Cradock Four, have made an urgent appeal to the SA National Defence Force to pay the legal costs of a former officer implicated in their murders.
In a statement on Friday, they said that this will allow the third judicial inquest into the 1985 murders to continue uninterrupted in the Gqeberha High Court.
The first session of the inquest came to a close on Wednesday and will continue in October.
The families are supported by the Foundation for Human Rights in their call for the SANDF to provide funding for the legal fees of 82-year-old retired lieutenant-general, Christoffel van der Westhuizen.
He was the former commanding officer of Eastern Province Command, and the families said he was implicated in the planning of the murders of the Cradock Four.
“He ordered the signal on 7 June 1985 to “permanently remove” the Cradock 4 “from society. He never applied for amnesty before the TRC,” they said in a joint statement on Friday.
“By contrast, the three surviving police officers implicated in the killings have received state-funded legal assistance, albeit belatedly, highlighting the inconsistency in the state's handling of legal support for the persons of interest.
“This inquest may be the last opportunity to hear directly from those implicated in the Cradock 4 murders," they said in a joint statement.
The families said that the Cradock 4 have waited 40 years for accountability, 31 of them under democratic rule.
"They should not be made to wait any longer.”
