Cosas Four
The Cosas Four were four anti-apartheid activists from the Congress of South African Students assassinated by the Vlakplaas death squad from the Security Branch. Their killing in a 1982 bombing attack was the first crime to be indicted as a crime of apartheid, in 2021.
On 15 February 1982,[1] three members of the Congress of South African Students—Eustice Madikela, Peter Matabane, Fanyana Nhlapo—were killed in a bombing attack at the Krugersdorp mine pump house orchestrated by the Security Branch, while a fourth, Zandisile Musi, endured severe injuries and has since died.[2][3][4][5] The killing was ordered by Jan Coetzee, who later received amnesty for his role in the killing.[6]
After the end of the South African apartheid government, several perpetrators from the Security Branch, including Christiaan Siebert Rorich and Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa, came forward to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1999. They confessed to the murders, confirming that the bombing was intentional.[7][1] Mfalapitsa was an ANC activist who had been trained in East Germany[8] before becoming disillusioned with the anti-apartheid movement and voluntarily returning to South Africa in 1981.[9] At his TRC hearing he stated that he did not wish to fight for either side, but "was forced to join" the Vlakplaas death squad.[6] He admitted to accompanying the Cosas activists in a van to the killing spot and promising to teach them how to use explosives. He had left the building and locked it, then went to Rorich who remotely triggered the explosion that killed the three activists. In 2001 the TRC refused amnesty to some of the perpetrators, finding the crime was insufficiently connected to a political aim.[7][1] In 2003, the case was one of over 300 that the TRC referred for prosecution. Allegedly, political interference prevented prosecutors from acting on the referral until 2017, despite lobbying from victims' families.[10]
In 2021, the two perpetrators still alive—Rorich and Mfalapitsa—were indicted with kidnapping, murder, and the crimes against humanity of murder and apartheid.[10] Their trial has been repeatedly postponed. After Mfalapitsa was charged, in 2024 a court decision refused to overturn the refusal of amnesty leaving the door open to his prosecution.[11] The trial was also delayed because a court ordered the state to pay for Rorich's legal defense.[12][5]
Lawyers for the defendants argued that the statute of limitations had expired and that the crimes against humanity charges were illegally retroactive. In 2025, a South African court ruled that the accused could face trial on both crimes against humanity charges as these crimes were part of customary international law at the time of the killing, and do not expire. The South Africa Litigation Centre states that the ruling is "a seismic moment for all victims, survivors and families who suffered from the conduct of an oppressive regime". This is the first indictment anywhere in the world for the crime of apartheid[12][13][14][15] and the first time that South African prosecutors have issued an indictment for crimes against humanity.[10] In order to be convicted of apartheid, the prosecution would still need to prove that the elements of the crime are met, including that it was committed for the "purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them".[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Simpson, Thula (1 March 2016). Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle. search "cosas four": Penguin Random House South Africa. ISBN 978-1-77022-842-9.
- ^ Magubeni, Coceka (12 November 2024). "Apartheid cop Mfalapitsa who 'killed' Cosas Four to face music". Sunday World. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ "Cosas 4 Factsheet" (PDF). Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ Watch, Human Rights (27 February 2024). "South Africa". World Report 2024: Events of 2023. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1-64421-338-4.
- ^ a b Cases, Future. "Press Release: Trial in the Historic COSAS 4 Case". Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ a b TRC final report volume 6 section 3 chapter 1 page 221-222
- ^ a b Jackson, Miles (1 May 2025). "Apartheid on Trial: The COSAS 4 Prosecution and the Direct Application of Customary International Law in South Africa". EJIL: Talk!. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
- ^ Communism, Terrorism, and the African National Congress Francis, Samuel T. The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies; Washington, D.C. Vol. 11, Iss. 1, (Spring 1986): 55.
- ^ Taylor, Simon (17 February 2023). "Status Quo Terrorism: State-Terrorism in South Africa during Apartheid". Terrorism and Political Violence. 35 (2): 304–320. doi:10.1080/09546553.2021.1916478.
- ^ a b c "Landmark ruling enables justice for SA's apartheid-era crimes". ISS Africa. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- ^ Daniels, Nicola (8 October 2014). "Court turns down amnesty bid in COSAS 4 murders". IOL. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ a b Kemp, Gerhard; Nortje, Windell (2023). "Prosecuting the Crime against Humanity of Apartheid". Journal of International Criminal Justice. 21 (2): 405–430. doi:10.1093/jicj/mqad023.
- ^ Ellis, Estelle (15 April 2025). "SA prosecutors get the go-ahead to charge Cosas 4 killers with crimes against humanity". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Criminal Court in South Africa Confirms Charges in Historic First Prosecution of the Crime Against Humanity of Apartheid". Opinio Juris. 29 April 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ Kisla, Atilla (17 April 2025). "Cosas 4: Naming the elephant in the room – the crime of apartheid - Southern Africa Litigation Centre". Retrieved 30 April 2025.