Speeches

Address by the Hon AC Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at the Commemoration of the 2025 International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances (IDOD), hosted by the ICRC Pretoria Regional Delegation in partnership with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Irene Country Lodge, Pretoria on Thursday, 28 August 2025

Programme Director, distinguished guests,

Kindly join me in rising, in body or in spirit, to recite the Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

We, the people of South Africa,
Recognise the injustices of our past;
Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land;
Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and
Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.
We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to:
Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;
Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;
Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and
Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.
May God protect our people.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso.
God seën Suid-Afrika. God bless South Africa.
Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. Hosi katekisa Afrika.”

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), in its final report on abductions, disappearances and missing persons, captured the agony of families caught in the torment of uncertainty:

“Unlike the experience of death, which, however painful, leads eventually to some kind of acceptance, families of the disappeared remain constantly caught between near certainty and faint hope.”

This speaks poignantly to the enduring trauma of enforced disappearances: grief without closure, mourning without answers, and healing without goodbye.
It is a violation that inflicts not only physical absence but also psychological torment and the corrosion of trust in institutions meant to protect life and liberty.

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

Today, as we mark the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we honour lives cut short, families torn apart, and truths silenced.
The Day, established by UN General Assembly Resolution 65/209 in December 2010, coincided with the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Enforced disappearance is the arrest, detention, or abduction of a person by agents of the state or those acting with its acquiescence, followed by a refusal to acknowledge their fate.
Victims are placed outside the protection of the law, denied the recognition of their humanity.

While once linked mainly to authoritarian regimes, new patterns have emerged: secret detentions, short-term disappearances, and cases where victims reappear traumatised—or not at all.
The UN stresses that enforced disappearance is not confined to a region, but a global problem that continues to evolve.
This year’s commemoration is significant for South Africa. In May 2024, our country acceded to the Convention.

This is both an act of remembrance and a pledge for the future: enforced disappearance will never again be tolerated here, and every person has the right to be seen, heard, and remembered.

South Africa’s Painful Past

Enforced disappearance is not just a crime against individuals. It is a crime against humanity. It leaves behind unanswered questions and a legacy of fear and injustice.

During apartheid, enforced disappearance was used systematically to silence dissent.

Many who dared to resist were abducted, tortured, and killed, their families denied truth or closure.

The TRC shed light on this dark history, but its work also revealed that many families remain without answers, and for some, justice remains elusive.

South Africa’s Accession to the Convention

South Africa’s accession to the Convention represents both continuity with our past struggles and a new step forward.

The Convention is more than a legal instrument—it is a moral compass. It obliges states to prevent disappearances, investigate cases, prosecute perpetrators, and uphold the right to truth.
Accession places us among 77 States parties committed to combating impunity, protecting children from abduction when parents disappear, and ensuring that families’ rights are respected.
Importantly, the Convention provides:

• A binding framework to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearance;
• Mechanisms for mutual legal assistance and international cooperation;
• Access to expert guidance through the Committee on Enforced Disappearances;
• Protection for victims and families, including recognition of the right to truth.

For South Africa, accession reinforces our constitutional values, strengthens our institutions, and links us to global networks of accountability.

The UN Working Group and the Case of Nokuthula Simelane

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, established in 1980, has assisted families globally in tracing loved ones. South Africa knows this work through the haunting case of Nokuthula Simelane, a 23-year-old Umkhonto weSizwe operative abducted in 1983.

She was tortured for weeks by the Security Branch. Amnesty was granted for her abduction and torture, but not for her murder. Her body has never been found. In 2019, she was declared presumed dead by the High Court.

Her family’s struggle reflects the enduring agony of enforced disappearance and the urgency of accountability and truth.

The Work of the TRC, the Missing Persons Task Team, and the TRC Unit

Why ratify the Convention if we already had the TRC? Because the Convention complements the TRC’s work: where the TRC examined our past, the Convention binds us to address both past and future cases.

In 2005, following the TRC’s recommendations, the National Prosecuting Authority’s Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) was created to trace the remains of 477 missing persons.
Working with forensic experts, including the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, the MPTT has recovered and identified over 220 individuals.

Recent recoveries include Benjamin Moloise and Abraham Mngomezulu, ANC activists whose dignified reburials symbolised the nation’s commitment to confronting its past.
Projects such as the Gallows Exhumation Project (2016) have located and exhumed 81 of 83 political prisoners hanged during apartheid.

The Exile Repatriation Project launched in 2024 has returned 42 remains of exiles from Zambia and Zimbabwe, with work continuing in Angola and Lesotho.
By June 2025, the total number of remains recovered through these projects stood at 222, with 11 symbolic burials where no remains could be found.
These efforts are not simply administrative—they are about dignity, closure, and justice.

Finding Closure: The Commission of Inquiry

For years, families alleged that prosecutions of apartheid crimes were deliberately obstructed.
In May 2025, President Ramaphosa signed a proclamation establishing a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, chaired by retired Justice Sisi Khampepe, to investigate these claims.
This commission provides an opportunity to restore trust and pursue justice where amnesty was not granted.

The National Prosecuting Authority and SAPS have reaffirmed their commitment to investigate and prosecute outstanding TRC cases, with dedicated resources assigned.
The message is clear: those who committed atrocities and evaded accountability will be pursued, and families deserve justice and closure.

Why Implementation Matters

Accession alone is not enough. What gives meaning to the Convention is its implementation. That means:

• Incorporating its principles into domestic law,
• Equipping and training law enforcement to investigate disappearances,
• Supporting the MPTT and TRC Unit with adequate resources,
• Strengthening partnerships with civil society,
• Providing psychosocial support to families, and
• Teaching future generations that enforced disappearance is an assault on humanity.

Implementation also requires that silence and delay give way to action. The bravery of families and survivors demands not only remembrance but reform.

Conclusion: A Pledge for the Future

As we commemorate this International Day, we honour the disappeared of our past, we stand in solidarity with families across the world, and we reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to never allow such violations again.

Let this day remind us:

• To continue searching for the missing,
• To keep remembering,
• To ensure accountability,
• To build a future where no one disappears into silence.

Our accession to the Convention is a milestone. But milestones matter only when followed by progress.
Let this be our collective pledge: to turn remembrance into reform, grief into justice, and silence into truth.

I thank you.