The eloquent speakers always stress that a case doesn’t get rot; it was evidence of that this week, when Gcinisiko Dandala (67), a former Transkei Police Officer appeared before Cala Magistrate Court charged with the 1985 murder of anti-apartheid activist,
Bathadwa Ndondo was a South African student activist from University of Transkei who was abducted and killed on September 24, 1985. He was a member of the Student Representative Council (SRC). Ndondo was targeted by a joint operation involving the Transkei Security Branch (SB) and Vlakplaas askaris. His killing, which occurred after he was shot multiple times, drew widespread protests against the repression of youth organizations in the Transkei.
Meanwhile, the former police officer appeared before Cala Magistrate court on Tuesday, 04 November 2025, and the case was postponed to 11 December 2025, for the accused to confirm his legal representation and he is out on warning.
The murder of Ndondo remains one of the unsolved cases of anti-apartheid activists who died in the hands of the then authorities. The accused in this case applied for amnesty before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). However, his application was rejected, as he had claimed that they shot and killed Ndondo because they feared that if they did not, they would be killed by Askaris.
According to the Regional National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Spokesperson, Luxolo Tyala, it is the state’s case that the accused, together with another member of the SB, who has since passed, and two Askaris who have also died, were given the task of arresting Ndondo by the then Transkei homeland government. On the fateful day, they proceeded to Ndondo’s home in Cala Village, driving a combi. On arrival, they allegedly found him in the same room as the late activist, Thobile Bam. They allegedly took him away in the combi, saying they were taking him for questioning at Cala Police station. As the combi was driving at Cala Village, witnesses saw Ndondo struggling to get out of the combi through the window, naked on the upper body.
He ultimately fell off the moving car and started running, with the accused and his accomplices giving chase, while firing shots towards him. The activist ran into a certain homestead where he fell upon entering, as his pursuers continued shooting. They then loaded him into the combi and took him to Cala Police Station and later to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Tyali stressed that the NPA hopes that the envisaged conviction will provide the much-needed closure to the victim’s family and the broader public.
