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FILE | Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Cape Town.
The families of the three anti-apartheid activists known as the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation Three (PEBCO Three) have welcomed the Justice Department’s decision to open a formal inquest into their deaths.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, authorised the inquest, which is scheduled to be heard in the Gqeberha High Court in the Eastern Cape.
The three activists – Sipho Hashe, Qaqawuli Godolozi, and Champion Galela – were kidnapped in 1985 at the then Hendrik Verwoerd Airport in Gqeberha. They were taken to a disused police facility at Post Chalmers near Cradock, where they were interrogated, tortured, and later executed.
According to previous Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings, their bodies were burnt using diesel in an attempt to conceal the crime. The upcoming inquest will examine the circumstances surrounding their abduction and deaths.
VIDEO | Anti-apartheid activists – PEBCO 3 remembered:
