The Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) to Investigate Apartheid Missing Persons Cases

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The Missing Persons Task’s Team (MPTT) emerged as a recommendation after the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1996 in its Final Report. The TRC was committed to correcting the injustices of apartheid, one way was through locating the graves of those who went missing between March 1, 1960 and May 10, 1994. Due to the large amount of people who were still missing (estimated around 477), at the end of the TRC, the MPTT was entrusted with this task. As part of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the MPTT was established in 2005, and was responsible for locating the graves of the deceased under apartheid, exhuming their remains, and identifying the remains for reburial to take place. They have uncovered the remains of 138 missing persons as of 20 April 2018, but this number increases every month. 

The task team worked alongside the Equipo Argentino de Anthropologia Forense (EAAF) better known as the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team which was established in 1984 and who examined 9000 cases of disappeared persons in Argentina. The MPTT modelled itself after the EAAF who focuses on working alongside families or loved ones of victims. The MPTT is headed by Madeleine Fullard and the organization has employed one of the EAAF forensic anthropologists, Claudio Bisso, on a permanent basis to assist with investigating and exhuming the apartheid dead in South Africa. The MPTT have exhumed more than 145 missing persons with the number increasing every month.

Mapungubwe Collection at the University of Pretoria

Mapungubwe Collection at the University of Pretoria

After the Mapungubwe gold was declared a national heritage collection in October 1997, the University of Pretoria (UP) became its official custodian as it played an important role in finding the gold and preserving it, making the university the host of the biggest ancient gold collection in Southern Africa. The university’s main task is to curate and preserve the gold collection which consists of three animal figurines namely a rhinoceros, bovine, and feline. Two other notable gold pieces are the ceremonial bowl and a sceptre. They also have a collection of gold bangles, nails, and foil.

The Snape Building Political Demonstration at the University of Cape Town in 1966 by Andrew M. Colman

In the late afternoon of Wednesday, 21 September 1966, I took part in a small political demonstration on the campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT). It was broken up violently by university authorities, and I still have a copy of a two-page “Witness Statement” that I wrote immediately after the event, outlining the bare facts of what happened. The final paragraph is a threat to sue the university for defamation, common assault, and malicious damage to property.

Language
English

History Grade 10 - Topic 3 Glossary

Authoritarian: A system where people are expected to obey all authority and rules, even though some of these rules and regulations may be unfair and cause the loss of personal freedom.

Clergy Priests or ministers of a religion that are usually a part of the Christian Church.

Constitution The system of laws and principles that a state, country or organisation is governed by.

Democracy A system of governance where people of a country can vote to elect their country’s representatives.

History Grade 10 - Topic 3 Contextual Overview

While colonialism and slavery flourished in the 18th century, the foundations of modern democracy were also being established. It is important to consider the ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity and individual freedom in the late 18th century, and to understand what these meant in societies of the time. The conditions in France that caused the revolution in 1789 should be put into context regarding why revolutions did not occur in a reforming monarchy such as the United Kingdom, or in Russia.[1]

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