who ykil4 who ykil4 whiV kill er? WHO has killed so many opponents of apartheid? This is the question plaguing activists still reeling from the assassination this week of human rights campaigner David Webster. While police have launched a massive investigation and Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok has publicly condemned Webster's killing, those responsible for the "politically-motivated" murders of many other activists have not been brought to book. The Community Resource and Information Centre has compiled a "selective" list of activists assassinated since 1974. Theset exclude activists who have disappeared, victims of vigilante action, those killed by police in the "normal course of their duties" and activists killed in exile. These murders remain unsolved; 1985: Alex Pilane - Cosas member; Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlawuli - E Cape activists; Victoria Mxenge- civil rights lawyer; Toto Dweba - Natal Freedom Charter Committee member; Ian Zamisa - Saawu organiser; Zalisa Matyholo - Saso member; Godfrey Phuso - Soweto schoolboy; Batwanda Ndondo - Transkei student; pupil Lefu Rasego. 1986: Joyce Modimoeng; Fabian and Florence Ribeiro - community activists; Diliza Matshoba - UDF member;' Stanley Nhlapo; Joseph Mothopeng; Sonwabo Ngxale - Azapo; Fuzile Lupulwana - Azapo; Jomo Mkize. 1987: Nkosinathi Shabangu - Sosco; Amos Tshabalala - Tskakane Civic Association; Caiphus Nyoka - youth activist; Eric Mntonga - Idasa director; Samuel Ndlovu - Sosco. 1988: Linda Brakvis - UDF member; Michael Banda - Potwa member; Sicelo Dhlomo - Soweto DPSC worker; Amos Boshomane - shop steward; Mthuthlezi Payi - Cape Youth Congress. Hit squads: his work suggested State link "ASSASSINATIONS have the effect of controlling government opposition when all other methods, such as detention or intimidation, have failed. It is a very rare event indeed when such assassinations are ever solved." These are the words of David Webster in the last article he wrote before he became a victim of the sinister forces he was investigating for the cause of human rights. The article, Repression and the State of Emergency June 1987 March 1989, written by Webster and Maggie Friedman, is due to be published by the Southern African Research Service. Describing activities which he termed "informal, extra-legal repression", Webster said they "are clearly beyond the law, but are pro-government or pro-apartheid and are carried out by anonymous agents or organisations, perhaps linked to the State". A statement from the David Webster Funeral Committee expressed concern that Webster's death might mark a new phase in the extra-legal repression he sought to uncover. Spokesmen for South Africa's security establishment have denied' any involvement but responsibility for the growing list of political assassinations would inevitably point to faceless persons suspected of operating under the cover of the State "until demonstrated otherwise through arrests or a proper judicial inquiry and not merely a police investigat. p from which nothing" public is ever heard", the committee said..