'Even a dog which has an owner is given a proper burial and that's all we are asking for . . . If you burnt her to ashes, take me to where you burnt her and I'll be satisfied. If you threw her into a river, tell which river it is and I'll be satisfied. If you dug her in a hole, tell me where the hole is and I'll give her a proper burial," pleaded the woman sitting in a press conference at Constitution Hill on Friday morning.The folder in front of her was labelled "Executive Mayor", but it was not in her position as the executive mayor of Polokwane that Thembi Nkadimeng made her plea. She was addressing the media as the representative of her family who have been waiting 32 years to find out what happened to her sister, Nokuthula Simelane, a courier for the armed wing of the ANC, who was abducted by the security police from the basement parking of the Carlton Centre in September 1983.mini_story_image_hleft1After opening a case into her disappearance in 1996 and participating in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and not receiving answers, Nkadimeng wants those responsible for her sister's abduction to say what they did with her body after torturing her for five weeks in an outbuilding on a farm in Northam.Nkadimeng has filed a case against the minister of justice, the national commissioner of police, the National Prosecuting Authority and the men who did not receive amnesty for her sister's disappearance and probable murder.She says hers "is a story about a sister, a sister I never knew. She disappeared when I was 10 years old. It has been a 32-year journey of a family, of highs and lows - laughter of course in between - but also insurmountable pain."In her founding affidavit, she says that although she and her family "know the most terrible things about what she suffered, we don't know how she died and where her body is today".Nkadimeng wants to compel the NPA to make a decision on whether to prosecute those responsible for Simelane's disappearance or refer the matter to an inquest.The four former members of the security branch implicated in the disappearance are Willem Coetzee, Anton Pretorius, Frederick Barnard Mong and Msebenzi Timothy Radebe.The former head of the security police's C1 section, Willem Schoon, has been blamed for ordering the abduction and torture.Several of the perpetrators applied for and were granted amnesty for their part in Simelane's abduction and torture, but none of them admitted to her disappearance or murder.mini_story_image_hright2Marjorie Jobson, head of the Khulumani Support Group, said the case was important as it would allow others who were searching for answers access to the legal processes put in place to assist them but which had so far failed them.She said this was important not only for the victims but for the country as a whole. "If you look at the levels of anger, especially among young people who are angry about the issues that have never been resolved, it is time for us to come clean on these issues."The case is potentially groundbreaking as supporting affidavits from former national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli and retired head of the priority crimes litigation unit, Anton Ackermann, accuse the government of political interference that made the prosecution of TRC-related cases almost impossible.Pikoli quotes from a secret memo he wrote to then minister of justice Brigitte Mabandla in which he "concluded that there had been improper interference in relation to the TRC cases and that I had been obstructed from taking them forward. I complained that such interference impinged upon my conscience and my oath of office."Pikoli received no reply to his memo and was suspended from office in 2007, with TRC cases being taken away from Ackermann soon afterwards.In his affidavit, Ackermann says: "It is no coincidence that there has not been a single further prosecution since I was relieved of my duty."story_article_left1A further affidavit comes from private investigator Frank Dutton, a former policeman bestowed with the Order of the Baobab for his work during the violence in KwaZulu-Natal in the '90s. He was also the head of the Scorpions and worked on political disappearances in Bosnia, Sudan and East Timor. Hewas hired by the family to investigate Simelane's case. Dutton says he has "never experienced a case that has been subjected to the delays that this matter has".Nkadimeng states in her affidavit that she does "not know why the new South African state has turned its back on victims who sacrificed so much, but it appears to me that this approach can only have been the product of a policy or decision to abandon these cases".She adds: "This failure has served to defeat the purpose behind South Africa's historic compromises and has rendered largely meaningless the entire truth for amnesty programme. It has become an effective or de facto blanket amnesty. It stands as a betrayal of all of us who participated in good faith in the TRC process."The affidavits of former TRC commissioners Alex Boraine and Dumisa Ntsebeza SC are equally critical of the government's failure with regard to the prosecution of TRC cases. Boraine says he has "noted with despair that the SAPS and the NPA have done very little to pursue those cases in which amnesty was denied or not applied for. In fact, their performance must be described as abysmal. In my considered view, this can only have been the result of a concerted decision or policy to abandon these cases ... Allowing perpetrators to escape all justice and accountability adds insult to their [the victims'] injuries."mini_story_image_hright3Ntsebeza, who investigated the Simelane case during the TRC, says in his affidavit: "The shameful political machinations that effectively stopped this investigation and others are contemptuous of the sacrifices made for the liberation of South Africa."Asked if she was worried that the case might lead to a political backlash against her, Nkadimeng said she believed all South Africans, "whether an executive mayor or the president of the country, has the right to justice. It's a constitutional right."She is determined that her family will get the answers they have been looking for. Her father died in 2001 without knowing what had happened to Nokuthula, and her mother, Sizakele Simelane, was too ill to appear at the press conference. However, Nkadimeng is "prepared to wait another 32 years"."In case it doesn't happen in my lifetime, I have a family. My daughter is 19 years old so I'm certain she will continue where mommy left off."Hopefully, when Sizakele turns 75 on December 9, she will have more than just a birthday to celebrate...