COSAS 4 case postponed once again

JOHANNESBURG - The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) four case returned to court on Monday. Eustice ‘Bimbo’ Madikela, Ntshingo Mataboge and Fanyana Nhlapo were killed in a bomb blast at a Pumphouse near Krugersdorp in 1982. 

Zandisile Musi was also injured when the pumphouse was rigged with explosives by officers from the notorious security branch. 

After stalling for several years, the trial against two men charged with the crime is expected to finally get under way.
 
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission refused amnesty to those behind the killing of the COSAS four. 

It wasn’t until 2021, though, that Christiaan Sebert Rorich and Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa were finally indicted.

This was on the back of sustained pressure from the families of the deceased and civil society. 

Former security branch officers Rorich and Mfalapitsa are the only two surviving suspects in the matter. 

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. 

It was postponed to Monday, though, for an application from the Southern African Litigation Centre to be admitted as a friend of the court.