Family seeks closure over death
FORMER uMkhonto we Sizwe operative Nokuthula Simelane has finally been declared dead following a 36-year search to find her. The search included visiting mortuaries, appointing special private investigators and following leads of her whereabouts.
The family also attended a graduation ceremony – where she was due to obtain her degree – but she did not pitch for her important day.
In September 1983, 23-year-old Simelane was abducted by the special branch of the apartheid police in the parking lot of the Carlton Centre in Joburg.
The family never saw her again. The certificate of declaration of death issued yesterday came after her family made a formal application in the High Court in Pretoria in June this year, arguing that if she was indeed alive, she would have visited their family home, especially to visit her ailing mother in Bethal, Mpumalanga.
Simelane’s sister, Thembi Nkadimeng – the executive mayor of Polokwane Local Municipality – lodged the application following her disappearance after she was captured.
In her papers, Nkadimeng said: “We know from the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) hearings that my sister suffered terribly at the hands of the secret branch. We know that she refused to collaborate with the forces of apartheid. For this she paid the ultimate price.”
According to her, given her sister’s grim state when she was last seen alive, the family believed it was beyond debate that Simelane was dead.
She said Simelane had been was tortured for several weeks.
Her family’s efforts to find her had been fruitless.
Nkadimeng said that they did not expect the previous apartheid-era government to investigate her disappearance, but had hoped the new government would.
“We were wrong, as it took the family many years to force the authorities to consider a prosecution.”
She also told the court: “My mother is 79 years old. She has not been well since my sister’s disappearance. I lost my brother in 2015 and my father two years ago.
“Both left without knowing the circumstances that led to my sister’s disappearance. I think this ruling will give us closure,” Nkadimeng said.
Due to the submissions, Judge Elizabeth Mamoloko Kubushi then ordered that the presumption of death be placed in a government gazette and various newspapers for a period of 15 days.
Judge Kubushi said this would enable those who were opposed to the application to come forward and submit new evidence in court, but she was adamant that the evidence placed before her had shown that Simelane was no longer alive. The judge made the preliminary ruling after Simelane’s counsel, advocate Howard Varney, detailed efforts made by the family to trace her, including testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Amnesty Committee in 1997 and 1998 respectively.