The Apartheid Killer: 1. Edward’s Ghost
27:18 Share

This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK.

Explaining football to the friend who's just there for the nachos? Hard. Tailgating from home like a pro with snacks and drinks everyone will love? An easy win. And with Instacart helping deliver the snack time MVPs to your door, you're ready for the game in as fast as 30 minutes. So you never miss a play or lose your seat on the couch or have to go head-to-head for the last chicken wing. Shop Game Day Faves on Instacart and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three grocery orders.

Offer valid for a limited time. Other fees and terms apply. Deep in the ocean, an orca pod is on the hunt. These aren't your average orcas. These guys are organized. Marketing team, did you get those social media posts scheduled for the seal migration? Aye, aye, Captain. We even have an automated notification for all pod managers when they go live.

They use Monday.com to keep their teamwork sharp, their communication clear and their goals in sight. Monday.com for whatever you run, even orcas. Go to Monday.com to dive deeper. Episodes of Season 3 of World of Secrets will be released weekly on Mondays wherever you get your BBC podcasts. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes a week early, first on BBC Sounds.

Before we start, this season of World of Secrets includes descriptions about death and violence, including torture, which some listeners may find distressing. We're standing in a field in South Africa, on the top of a sloping hill. In front of us is a tangled maze of grasses and overgrown thorns. Beyond that, a small city. And in the distance, the Indian Ocean. The wind is howling. We can hardly hear ourselves speak.

The grass is dancing around our feet. And in the middle of this field is an excavator, a yellow digger, searching for something beneath the ground. Men are standing around us with face masks on, wearing white plastic suits and blue gloves. It's as if they're preparing for an alien invasion. As the excavator digs deeper, the red soil becomes wet and water begins to pool at the bottom of the hole. The excavator stops.

and one of the men climbs down and he begins to dig by hand. As he goes deeper, we see the rim of a plastic bag. And I know in that moment that there's a body inside, the remains of a human being. Carefully, almost tenderly, he opens the bag. As he moves aside the wet mud and peels back the plastic, we see the skeleton of a man. We can see his legs, his chest, and the bones of his skull and face.

He's wearing a checkered shirt and blue trousers. A woman is standing next to us. She knew that man in the checkered shirt. She loved him. And this is the first time she's seen him in 35 years. As they delicately pull out the man's skull, the sound of the wind changes. And you can hear her crying faintly as she collapses to the ground. Who is this man in the plastic bag? And why did he die?

We know there are more bodies out there, buried in fields and unmarked graves. For the past four years, we've been investigating the person behind it. They're not behind bars. They're free, somewhere in South Africa. And we are going to try and find them. This is World of Secrets, Season 3, The Apartheid Killer. A BBC World Service investigation. With me, Ayanda Charlie. And me, Charlie Northcote.

Episode 1. Edward's Ghost. A clock tower is ringing in the South African town of East London. A few blocks away is one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. This is my country, where I was born. And East London is only a short drive from where my family is from. The scenery is stunning. Huge sand dunes roll into the wild ocean. To me, this city looks a bit like an English seaside town.

People are eating fish and chips, and women are pushing their babies in prams down a long promenade, running parallel to the sea. But beneath the surface, there's a dark past here. And for those that know it, you can feel it lingering in the boulevards, main streets, and back alleys of East London, wailing at you from every corner.

In the 1980s, this city was under the rule of the apartheid government, a white supremacist state that relegated people like me and my family to the very bottom of the social ladder. Unspeakable things happened to black people during this time, so generally we don't speak about it. For many, the pain of remembering is just not worth it. Apartheid will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Maybe our children's children will be better off, but...

To me, apartheid will stay with us for a long time, even after I'm gone. There is too much pain. And for now, I don't feel that there is enough that is done for us to heal. This is Marlene Sunis. She lives in the East London suburb of Mdanzani. The streets are dirt, there's sporadic electricity, but the people here are resilient. Marlene is making a cup of tea.

She has wrinkles in the corners of her eyes from smiling. But you can sense another side to her too. You can see in her face that she is haunted by something. Marlene grew up under the apartheid regime. It was a segregated world. Being black, she wasn't allowed to visit East London's most beautiful beaches. Those were reserved for white people. If she tried to sneak down there with her friends, she was punished. We would go to the beach and the white children would approach us

We have to step aside. They would have like a cane or something and they would just tell us to stretch our arms. Rather than picking a fight with them and be taken by the police, it's better for you to just hold out your hand. It doesn't matter why you're being hit. So what were they doing exactly? They were just hitting you for fun and they would laugh. Even if you're not scared, you hate them, but it's better for you to look scared than to actually try and want to fight with them.

They're going to hit you and the police vehicles are always around. So why couldn't you do anything when they did that? Because they were the ones in power. Marlene didn't have a lot growing up. Her mum worked as a domestic servant for a rich white family, cleaning, cooking and looking after their children. The house was huge. It's a huge house. Lots of land. I mean, it was a big house.

And they were keeping boundaries between us. You know you're black and they know they're white, so we don't mix. When young Marlene wanted to play with the white kids in the house, there were rules. We used to play with this girl from the family, the daughter that was my age. My mother would say to me, if we have an argument with this child, and she would come to me and say, "You don't argue with her. A white lady, she's always right."

So we were brought up to endure. Apartheid literally means separate. The government categorized people into four races. Everything was about segregation. The best of the beaches and suburbs were for the white people. The second best were for Indians and Asians. Whatever was left, the so-called colored or mixed heritage people could have. And the black people, they got the crumbs. Marlene lived in a one-bedroom shack. She couldn't go to the white parts of town.

She couldn't use a train or a toilet designated for a white person. But in the midst of this suffocating world, Marlene and her family still found joy. They found laughter and they found love. And one of the most loving people in her life was her brother, Edward. He's a tall guy, light-skinned. He's a quiet person. He don't like fights. He don't like to get into arguments.

They would go to the markets and they would get fruits, leftover fruits, and he thought that before he goes home, let me just pass by my sister's place and give her this orange. It's not really about the orange, it's about the love. He didn't have much, but he was a very loving person. A gentle person who was caring, who was a breadwinner, who always took care of his family.

One of his staple forms of income was collecting glass bottles for recycling. And he had a really good reason for working so hard. Back home, he had a young son who adored him. Every time when he come, give me a hug and talk with me and play with me. And I was so excited because he love me and also I love him. This is Raymond, Edward's son. He was six years old during this time.

Raymond's birth hadn't been planned and his mum didn't want to be part of his life. Edward was effectively a single parent. He left Raymond with his grandparents during the week while he went out to find work. And despite how difficult that was, he always found a way to support his son. Weekends were special times for Raymond.

That is when his dad would come home. And even though they were living on the brink of poverty, Edward almost always found a way to bring a gift for his little boy. Every time when he come, he bring me something nice to spoil me and everything. Like what? Like maybe chocolate or sweets. One time when he was off from work, he bring me a rugby ball. That's why I was liking to play rugby.

Edward loved sport and he passed on that passion to his son Raymond as well. They played football and rugby together on weekends and little Raymond would practice during the week to try and impress his dad. Playing rugby or soccer the whole day. One day at school, at primary school, you come and watch one rugby match at the school and then doing 100 metres and 200 metres sprint.

Raymond's life revolved around these weekends with his dad. And then, one day, in the winter of 1987, Edward didn't show up. It was really unlike him. There was no warning, no word from him. And so on that Saturday, six-year-old Raymond stood waiting by the gate to their house for the whole day, wondering why his dad hadn't come home. My grandmother told me, 'No, don't worry. You know your father.'

I will come and your father come. Maybe he's out now at work somewhere in South Africa. He will come. You know your father come and your father love you. But Edward didn't come home. Back then, there were no mobile phones, of course. The family had no way of calling Edward. And each day, Raymond waited for his father until the sunset. I used to wait for him outside, sometimes till late. And my grandmother said, no.

The days become weeks and the weeks become months. The Sunis' family begin desperately searching for Edward. They speak to friends, they retrace his steps and no one has heard anything. He was just missing.

And nobody knew. Edward misses Raymond's seventh birthday. And then his eighth birthday too. Two years slip away. Raymond's upset, confused and angry. It was very hard for me. Sometimes I get cross and run away from the house. Sometimes I'm just not eating nothing. I feel like he abandoned me. Nobody searches harder for Edward than his mum, Raymond's grandmother.

She does everything possible to find him. For two years, she didn't know where her son was. For two years. She was desperate to find him. She went and knocked on a lot of doors. She knocked on a lot of doors, but she never could get help. People were desperate. We were looking for him. We couldn't find him. And nobody knew where he was. And then, completely by chance, the family have a breakthrough. Someone picks up a copy of the local newspaper.

And buried away in the back pages, they see Edward's name. They finally have some answers.

This Halloween, ghoul all out with Instacart. Whether you're hunting for the perfect costume, eyeing that giant bag of candy, or casting spells with eerie decor, we've got it all in one place. Download the Instacart app and get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes. Plus, enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, minimum $10 per order. Service fees, other fees, and additional terms apply.

Instacart, bringing the store to your door this Halloween. Deep in the ocean, an orca pod is on the hunt. These aren't your average orcas. These guys are organized. Marketing team, did you get those social media posts scheduled for the seal migration? Aye, aye, Captain. We even have an automated notification for all pod managers when they go live.

They use Monday.com to keep their teamwork sharp, their communication clear, and their goals in sight. Monday.com. For whatever you run, even orcas. Go to Monday.com to dive deeper. After two years of searching for Edward, the Sunis' family are reading through the morning newspaper over their breakfast when they discover the worst possible news. I've never heard anything of what happened to him until I saw it in the paper. Then if they have the names of a few people in the paper...

And I saw Edward soon as he was killed and was buried in an unmarked grave. The article told the family that Edward was dead. But it also raised so many questions. Why was he killed? And how did he die? Did he suffer? For the newspaper to get Edward's name, someone must have known who he was when he was dumped in that unmarked grave.

But despite having this information, no one bothered to tell his loved ones. These mysteries surrounding Edward's disappearance and death have haunted the Sunnis family for decades. It was very painful for me because I look out for my father and stuff and now he was not there anymore. And no one come and support me and hug me.

This is the first time Raymond has spoken about his dad in years. We took a break during our interview and stepped outside for some air. Raymond has carried this pain for 35 years.

He's middle-aged now, but when you see him break down, it's impossible not to see that young six-year-old boy crying for his dad who never came home. Maybe if we'd buried him, it would be better. The way he died, he died like he was a criminal. It's very sad. It will always be there. For Malin and many other South Africans, where a body is buried has huge spiritual significance.

In the afterlife, her ancestors gather together in one specific place, the family graveyard. They comfort each other, they reminisce, and they watch over the living. But Edward is not with his ancestors. His spirit is lost. If somebody dies in your family tragically, the spirit will never have peace. We believe Edward's soul is roaming around and he's lost forever.

and there's nobody that can help him. Not knowing where he's going and what happened, it feels like we have failed him and he can't find his way home. We tried by every means without help from the apartheid government to get his body to be buried. His mother, she went for help all over. She couldn't find any help. She had hoped that

The government and other organizations would help her bring her son's body back to no avail. And then she died in 2014. And the dying wish was for her son to be buried in her hometown. She wanted to take him back. For more than 30 years, they waited, hoping that one day they would find a way to bring his body home. And the help did come, eventually. But it came from an unlikely place. Come on, you f***ers.

We're driving through the crowded streets of East London and behind the wheel is a South African journalist. She's spent the last 20 years investigating disappearances and killings in this city. Her name is Isa Jacobson. You don't want to mess with Isa, at work or on the road. Isa can be a bit intimidating when you first start working with her.

But she's a brilliant journalist, tenacious. Sometimes, when she's talking about injustice, her hands physically shake with anger. Aiza is white, and when she was at university, the apartheid government was in charge. She played an active role fighting against it.

I went to the University of Cape Town, which was a highly politicised university where there was a very strong anti-apartheid movement. There would be protests on the rugby fields, which bordered on the highway. Knowing that this was the most visible place where people driving past could see the protests, the cops would be waiting on the other side, waiting to pounce, waiting to leap.

And then they would, and we would just start running for our lives. Rubber bullets would fly. It was a scary time. I contacted Isa way back in 2020 to help me investigate what happened to Edward Sunis. After months of painstaking research, she had a breakthrough. She found the precise location Edward's body had been buried.

For a long time, all I had was a number, a grave number, which we'd managed to track down. I remember going to the cemetery's office and paging through these books and eventually finding the number that corresponded with the police report that would have said where he was actually buried. The official grave number that Isa found was 1749. But there was no physical grave at that spot.

No stone with a number on top. All it was, was a coordinate on a map. And when you went to that place, there was nothing there but a tangled thicket of grass and thorns. I remember just feeling at the time, we aren't going to find him. How will we ever find him? It's almost impossible to see anything amongst the mess of this graveyard.

With that information, with that grave number, Aiza was able to get permission from the South African authorities to dig deeper. It took almost two years battling infuriating bureaucracy, but eventually she secured permission for Marlene and Raymond to exhume Edward's body, to dig him up, find out what happened to him, and finally bring him home. And that is how we found ourselves in that field overlooking the ocean, with those yellow excavators.

The wind and the men dressed in white plastic suits, digging up the earth. It was a cloudy day and we're standing in what looks like a completely overgrown field with grass above your knees, almost up to your hip in places. And the sound, the sound of the wind, the sound of this machine, it kind of really sort of dug at my own being.

It did feel like we were part of something enormous. And he starts to peel open this plastic bag for the first time since the moment that young man died. And he pulls out the lower jaw of a human skull with its teeth still intact. You can never imagine it. I was so overwhelmed when they said, this is the head, and they would pick out, they saw the little bones of his fingers.

Everyone at that point, including the guys in hazmat suits, just were continuing their work with tears pouring down their face. Maybe they just threw him in there like he was nothing, like he was not anybody's brother or father or son to somebody. They just threw him in there and they threw the ground on him. We won't really know what happened. We only know that he was killed.

What happened to Edward Sunnis? How did he die? If you look at the greater context of South Africa, people are buried all over. They disappeared, buried in fields. And their families will never, ever, ever know where they are. By investigating Edward's death, we have been piecing together a puzzle. He's not the only person who disappeared and was found dead in the 1980s in East London. We know

that at least 19 people were killed. And one man was behind it. He would appear in the dark. That person who was sitting in that space, who was in that space, would not know that this guy was about to appear. On the streets of East London, there are stories about a shadowy figure who only came out after dark. He was tall. He was six foot two. He was bearded.

And he was often barefoot. And he was stalking people, cat-like, in the dark, climbing walls, appearing out of nowhere. This killer is not a myth. He's a real person. And memories of him still haunt this city. He reached such a stage where he was now hunting people, hunting, literally hunting. He was known to be a killer. Even if you see him in the town, everybody will say, here's the killer, here's the killer, here's the killer.

He was a killer. It's taken us years, but we have found that killer. The man who murdered Edward Sunnis. He's not in jail. He's free. And we are on our way to meet him. I've been called brutal, cruel, merciless. And this is the first opportunity I've had to actually say who I am. Who is this man? And why did he kill so many people? That's next time on World of Secrets.

Thank you for listening to World of Secrets, Season 3, The Apartheid Killer, from the BBC World Service. This has been Episode 1 of 6. We would like as many people as possible to hear our investigations, so please leave a rating and a review and do tell others about World of Secrets. It really does help. Season 3 is a long-form audio production for the BBC World Service, presented by me, Ayanda Charlie, and Charlie Northcott.

It's a collaboration with BBC Africa Eye with original investigation by Isa Jacobson and Charlie Northcott. There's a BBC Africa Eye film about the apartheid killer, which we'd recommend watching too after listening to the podcast. Look for the link in the show notes. The series producer is Jim Frank, field production by Isa Jacobson. The series editor is Matt Willis.

And Dixie is senior podcast producer at the BBC World Service. The podcast commissioning editor is John Manel. Hi, I'm Raj Punjabi from HuffPost. And I'm Noah Michelson, also from HuffPost. And we're the hosts of Am I Doing It Wrong? A new podcast that explores the all too human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right. Each week on the podcast, Raj and I pick a new topic that we want to understand better and bring a guest expert on to talk us through how to get it right.

And we're talking like legit, credible experts, doctors, PhDs, all around superheroes. From HuffPost and Acast Studios, check out Am I Doing It Wrong? wherever you get your podcasts.

The race to become the next president of the United States is on. We can't drop the pace now. Yeah, it's pretty close. Count on the BBC World Service to keep you informed on the latest breaking news with insight and analysis you can trust. Immigration, if you look at polls, a top concern for so many U.S. voters. The issue of the economy reigns supreme for everybody. For a global perspective on the U.S. election, search for The Global Story, the documentary, and...

and The Global News Podcast, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.