A Canadian researcher will be flying to South Africa this week to meet the family of slain activist Nokuthula Simelane The Simelanes are among 30 families of apartheid-era victims that sociologist Madalena Santos would like to interview as part of a research project.Santos will focus on the families of people who disappeared and whose bodies were never found.The findings of the month-long investigation will be compared with a Canadian study done by Professor Augustine Park of Carleton University in Ottawa, on the effect of the removal by Canadian authorities of 150000 children from their families dating back to 1876. The children were placed in "Indian" boarding schools and officially at least 4000 died of, among other causes, malnutrition .story_article_left1Most of the bodies were never returned to their families.Meanwhile, Simelane's sister, Polokwane mayor Thembi Nkadimeng, and her family welcomed this week's decision by the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute the security policemen allegedly responsible for Simelane's disappearance, torture and murder 33 years ago.Simelane, a courier for the armed wing of the ANC, was abducted by the security police from the basement parking lot of the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg in September 1983.The decision by the NPA to prosecute the men came only after Nkadimeng turned to the courts to compel the authority to either make a decision or open an inquest into her sister's death.The NPA has yet to respond to questions about political interference in the prosecution of post-Truth and Reconciliation Committee cases raised in affidavits from former national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli and the former head of the priority crimes litigation unit, Anton Ackerman.NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said the authority did not comment on political matters. The NPA's mandate was "to prosecute without fear, favour or prejudice".Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane SC, who leads the Simelane family's legal team, said they were determined to ensure that the family got justice.full_story_image_vleft1He said the family saw "it as a scandalous indictment on this post-apartheid state" that they had been forced to bring considerable pressure to bear on the NPA before it had decided to prosecute the alleged murderers of someone who fought for freedom.Nkadimeng said: "I am hopeful that this case will open a lid to all the cases that are sitting in a box at the NPA, [a box] with 'unresolved' written on it. May they get out of that box and allow all those families to have peace."Marjorie Jobson, head of the Khulumani Support Group, confirmed that Santos would be speaking to Simelane's family."I hope this will put the spotlight back on this terrible legacy of uninvestigated, enforced disappearances."..