By Buchule Putini
East London — More than three decades after gunmen stormed the Highgate Hotel on 1 May 1993, killing five and injuring seven, the inquest into the massacre resumes on Monday, 11 August 2025, at the Special Tribunal in East London.
For years, the attack was blamed on the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), but former APLA Director of Operations, Letlapa Mphahlele, has shattered that narrative, denying any involvement and pointing to contradictions in the attackers’ methods, weapons, and even the absence of records in seized APLA archives.
Survivors Neville Beling and Karl Weber, alongside Lyndene Page — sister of slain Deon Harris — are still demanding answers. Backed by the Foundation for Human Rights and Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, they accuse the state of decades of silence and obstruction.
The hearing marks another chance to confront unfinished business in South Africa’s democratic journey — and to finally uncover the truth that has eluded justice for 32 years.
