By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The murder and kidnapping trial against two men accused of blowing up the Cosas 4 has been postponed yet again – much to the ire of the victims’ family members.
They face charges of kidnapping, murder and – for the first time in South African history – crimes against humanity: murder and apartheid.
The case was last in court in August 2023, when the trial was expected to start but it was postponed to January 2024.
Their trial was meant to get underway in the High Court in Joburg on Monday but it’s now been postponed until May.
Spokesperson for the families, Russell Baloyi, spoke to members of the media at court after Monday’s proceedings.
“Everybody is completely devastated. Obviously our level of scepticism and belief in our justice system is at another level. We’re completely demoralised.”
It has been four decades since the brutal murder and kidnapping of three of the Cosas four and the attempted murder of one took place in Krugersdorp.
On 15 February 1982, four young students, namely Eustice Madikela, Ntshingo Mataboge, Fanyana Nhlapo and Zandisile Musi were blown up by members of the Security Branch of the apartheid police.
The attack took place in an old pump house on a deserted mine property.
According to David Forbes, a documentary filmmaker, writer and activist, the four determined youths from Kagiso township aimed to combat apartheid by seeking refuge in exile.
The youth were affiliated with the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) in the 1980s, an organisation that fought apartheid and championed education
Unknowingly, they approached a supposed family friend, in Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa (the first accused), who was a Umkhonto weSizwe operative, but became an askari and was soon working as a spy for the apartheid police.
This supposed ally was said to have betrayed them, luring them into a deadly police trap (allegedly helped to be set up by former bomb expert and security branch officer, Christiaan Rorich- the second accused) that resulted in the deaths of three individuals.
The sole survivor of the ordeal, Zandisile Musi, would later be known as one of the Cosas 4 and tell their story.
The case returns to court on 14 May, for an application from the Southern African Litigation Centre to file papers to be admitted as amicus curiae.