The beginning of the end

The murder of the Cradock Four is one of apartheid’s most heinous crimes.

Late on the night of June 27 1985, South African security forces set up a roadblock to intercept a car near Port Elizabeth. Two of the four anti-apartheid activists in the car had been secretly targeted for assassination.

Matthew Goniwe was a popular teacher in Cradock, and a revolutionary. Fort Calata, another teacher and activist, was also on the hit list. Sparrow Mkonto, a railway union activist, and Sicelo Mhlauli, a visiting headmaster and childhood friend, were also in the car. They were never seen alive again.

The police abducted the four and murdered them. Their burnt bodies were found later near the Port Elizabeth suburb of Bluewater Bay. On the day of the funeral of the Cradock Four, the communist flag was flown for the first time in South Africa since the party was banned in 1950. It was the beginning of the end. Within five years, Nelson Mandela would walk free and begin the process of leading the country to liberty.