Ashley Kriel

Kriel was born on 17 October 1966^[4] in Bonteheuwel, a working-class township on Cape Town's Cape Flats.^[5] He was born to parents Ivy and Melvin Kriel, with two older sisters, Michel Assure and Melaney Adams. ^[6]His upbringing was impacted by the families that were forcibly removed from District 6 housing, establishing Bonteheuwel as a "colored" designated area by way of the Group Areas Act of 1950.^[7]

He was an active student in high school as he was a part of various groups. He was a founding member of Bonteheuwel Inter-Schools Congress (BISCO), where members would coordinate activities of student councils in surrounding schools. Members of BISCO would also study apartheid tactics, mobilize for grassroots resistances, and call out police corruption and brutality. He was also a member of the Cape Youth Congress (CAYCO), where he played a role in mobilizing students to oppose the apartheid by holding rallying calls.^[7] He became a leader for the Bonteheuwel youth, despite still being a teenager. He contributed to the organization of the youth into school boycotts, protests, and other actions.

Kriel was forced to go into exile at the age of 18 after receiving attention from the special police. He joined the Bonteheuwel Military Wing (BMW), which is the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) and was founded by other underground militants. There, he received assistance from members of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and ANC to move throughout borders in secret. He also received housing from an old teacher of his at a safe house in Athlone.^[8]Many radicals from Bonteheuwel believed in ideologies rooted in praxis. Kriel was a pioneer in advancing the logic that revolutions must initially be ideological before they can be practiced on the streets. ^[9]

On 9 July 1987, Jeffery Benzien, who served as Security Branch Operative, assassinated Kriel in his safe house in Athlone. The circumstances around Kriel's death have never been clearly established.

Benzien claims that Kriel answered the door to who he thought were municipal workers, but were disguised special police. The police went on to arrest Kriel for allegedly having a grenade in his possession. When the policemen were handcuffing Kriel, he accidentally shot himself in the back with a pistol Benzien claimed Kriel concealed under a towel after he attempted to scuffle with the policemen. Benzien was subsequently granted amnesty for his involvement in Kriel's death and other apartheid-era crimes by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). ^[10]

Forensic investigator David Klatzow, who was hired by Kriel's family, claimed that Kriel's wounds weren't from a close contact gunshot, but aligned with the belief that the shot was fired from afar when Kriel was already in handcuffs. He believed that the story given by the special police to the TRC and in court were lies made with the purpose of covering up the true nature of Kriel's death, as the original image of the crime scene displayed Kriel's corpse with his wrists in handcuffs, in front of the safe house with the pistol and grenade that the police claimed that Kriel was in possession of. He claimed that it was impossible for Kriel to shoot himself in the back when he was already placed in handcuffs, and the shooter had to have been standing at a distance. Klatzow also believed that it was a norm for police to plant evidence at crime scenes to convey message that the victim was committing acts of terrorism. Kriel's sister, Michel Assure, claimed that he was tortured as she visited the house after his death and found blood inside and outside of the house, as well as a spade.^[11][8]

Kriel's funeral was attended by many, as the masses carried his casket into the Anglican Church of Resurrection, but mourners were attacked by South African police with tear gas and rubber bullets.^[12][13]