GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament

12 July 2023

The GOOD Party applauds the finding of the re-opened inquest that Ernest Moabi Dipale did not commit suicide in detention more than 40 years ago but was murdered by police.

The Dipale matter is the latest in a very slow trickle of re-opened inquests into the deaths of political detainees at the hands of apartheid security forces that begun a few years ago, following intense pressure by the family, with the overturning of the suicide finding in the 1971 murder in detention of Ahmed Timol.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended to government more than 20 years ago that approximately 300 cases in which the perpetrators either didn’t apply or qualify for amnesty should be re-investigated.

At the present rate of progress, the perpetrators and close survivors of the victims will all have died of natural causes long before the State completes its work. Many are already dead.

Just last month, the families of the so-called Cradock Four – Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto – were finally denied the opportunity of ever seeing the perpetrators of the brutal murders held accountable when the last living suspect, Hermanus Barend du Plessis, quietly passed away.

What was particularly disquieting about the reopened Dipale inquest was the appearance of notorious former police killer, Joe Mamasela.
On his own admission, Mamsela was involved in more than three dozen murders of anti-apartheid activists in his role as an Askari based at Vlakplaas. Mamasela told the court that although he was involved in Dipale’s arrest he was not responsible for his death.

Mamasela reminds us of the fact that there are apartheid killers roaming freely around a post-apartheid State that couldn’t be bothered to bring them to book. There is no doubt this is a contributing factor to the amount of violent crime in the country.

The official finding that Dipale was murdered should be celebrated. But the State should hang its head in shame at its abandonment of justice in respect of the majority of TRC cases.

Media Enquiries:

Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 082 518 3264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za

Samantha Jackson, GOOD Acting Media Manager
Cell: 083 550 9875
Email: media@forgood.org.za