“Wounds of the Past, Questions of the Present: Minister Calls for TRC Justice”
Viable News Team 
Image by Misha Jordaan/ Gallo Images
In a poignant appeal that blends personal grief with national responsibility, Human Settlements Minister Thembisile “Thembi” Simelane has called for a renewed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) inquiry to uncover the fate of her sister, Nokuthula Simelane, who disappeared in 1983. In an emotional audio message released by News24 on August 4, 2025, Simelane emphasized: “It’s not about vengeance” she wants closure and the dignity long denied to her family.
For more than four decades, Nokuthula’s disappearance has cast a long shadow over her family and South Africa’s struggle to reconcile with its apartheid past. Thembi once an activist herself and now a politician entrusted with upholding justice has turned her grief into purpose. Her public appeal is not only a personal plea but also a broader demand for accountability and follow-through on TRC recommendations that have long been neglected.
Nokuthula Simelane, a committed anti-apartheid operative for Umkhonto we Sizwe, was allegedly abducted in Johannesburg by Security Branch agents in 1983. She was reportedly tortured and taken to remote locations, possibly Vlakplaas, before vanishing without a trace. During TRC hearings, some members admitted to her detention and torture but denied involvement in her death. Amnesty was granted to several of them, and many critical details including where Nokuthula was buried remain undisclosed. No formal prosecution followed the TRC, and her final resting place remains a mystery.
The audio message generated by Simelane confronts this historical silence directly. She articulates that her quest is not about revenge but about human dignity knowing where her sister was laid to rest and allowing her family the chance to honour Nokuthula with a proper burial. Her stance has resonated deeply, especially with those who feel many TRC breakthroughs have stalled in the courts or been lost to bureaucratic inertia
Political analysts and human rights advocates see her request as part of a larger reckoning with the incomplete justice processes that followed the TRC era. Though the TRC delivered public testimonies and granted amnesties, a large number of perpetrators were never prosecuted. Families across the country continue to wait for closure, mourning loved ones whose stories were recorded but left unresolved. As one report underscored: decades later, many victims and their families remain without justice or even a burial site
Simelane has faced scrutiny in her political career most recently over delayed prosecutions, institutional delays, and corruption allegations linked to a loan scandal but her integrity in demanding justice for her sister has added moral weight to her political voice. Having served at high levels of government, she now leverages her platform to call for accountability not just for herself, but for a nation still in the process of healing
Activists hope her public appeal will catalyse renewed action. The National Prosecuting Authority, the SAPS Missing Persons Unit, and government TRC agencies have a renewed mandate not just to re-examine past testimonies, but to deploy resources to locate and exhume remains, pursue inquests, and hold remaining suspects to account. Thembi Simelane’s belief is that finding and laying Nokuthula to rest should be a symbol of closure for families nationwide.
Whether the system responds remains to be seen. But her message is clear: the legacy of grief cannot be swept under the carpet. As she said, “it’s not about vengeance” it is about ending silence, restoring identity, and restoring humanity to those lost under apartheid’s cruelty.
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