The inquest into the deaths of the Cradock Four in the Gqeberha High Court, Eastern Cape, has called its first witness, former Nelson Mandela University Vice-Chancellor Professor Derick Swartz.

The inquest seeks to uncover the truth behind the 1985 killing of anti-apartheid activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto.

Swartz worked closely with Goniwe during the liberation struggle.

He is testifying based on a statement he submitted during the 1999 Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty process.

Swartz told the court that he was in contact with Goniwe the day before his fatal trip to the meeting in Gqeberha in June 1985.

“It’s of a set of conversations I had with the late Matthew Goniwe over the telephone … you know, forty years since then. Of course, we were operating under very difficult conditions, I think back on the time in the political and social history of the country.”