SOUTH AFRICA's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has scored an important point by obtaining the evidence and endorsement of Mrs Nyamika Goniwe, widow of the murdered anti apartheid activist, Matthew Goniwe.
Mrs Goniwe, who gave her evidence on the third day of the commission's public hearings in East London yesterday, had earlier indicated that she would not testify because - like many South Africans - she lacked faith in the commission's ability to resolve apartheid era crime. The widows of the three other victims in the Cradock Four murder case gave evidence on Tuesday but Mrs Goniwe failed to testify with them.
Yesterday, however, Mrs Goniwe took her place at the front of East London's city hall, facing the commission's chairman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and his fellow members of the committee on human rights violations. Afterwards she told journalists that she was glad she had spoken.
"I look forward to the people who killed Matthew being identified, after suffering such pain and trauma," she said. They must show remorse; they must say they are sorry for what they did.
The bodies of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Scelo Mhlawuli were found scatteied in bushes near the burnt out wreck, of their car after they went missing on June 27th, 1985, on their way from the Eastern Cape town of Cradock to Port Elizabeth.
Mr Goniwe and his associates had been the leaders of the Cradock Residents' Association, an affiliate of the anti apartheid United Democratic Front.
Their protests against unfair rents had sparked heavy retalialion from the apartheid government, which in turn led to a widespread rents strike and school boycott. All four men had been mutilated and tortured with knives and acid before they died.
Mrs Goniwe told the Truth Commission yesterday that she believed the security police had murdered her husband and his friends as they were seen as a threat. On one occasion, she said, the local security police commander had pulled her husband from a car and put a gun to his head. His movements were followed and the house was bugged.
"The whole family bore the wrath of the state," she said. "This, took the form of early morning raids and short term detentions, death threats and tampering with our cars.
Today is the final day, of the first round of hearings in East London. Next week the human rights committee moves to Cape Town, followed in successive weeks by Johannesburg and Durban. The controversial amnesty committee will not begin its work for at least another month.