South Africa Opens a New Inquiry into Apartheid-Era Killings Known as Cradock Four

Forty years after the abduction, torture, and murder of four Black anti-apartheid activists known as the Cradock Four by apartheid-era security forces in South Africa, a new judge-led inquiry has opened to uncover the truth about their killings. The inquiry represents a renewed push for justice by families of apartheid victims, as previous investigations in 1987 and 1993 failed to hold anyone accountable despite the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission identifying six police officers involved, all of whom have since died. Frustrated families of the Cradock Four successfully forced authorities to launch this new inquiry and joined with other victims' families to sue the South African government over its 25-year failure to investigate apartheid crimes, resulting in President Cyril Ramaphosa ordering a national inquiry into why perpetrators were never prosecuted.