Timol family urges NPA to act on murder case
AFTER waiting 46 years for the State to acknowledge that anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol was murdered by police, his family now want the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to act against the former officers implicated in the cover-up.
The family yesterday appealed to the NPA to act against those identified by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria of playing a role in the conspiracy.
Three months ago, Judge Billy Mothle reversed an apartheid inquest court’s ruling that Timol, an SACP member, had committed suicide by jumping out of the 10th floor of the then John Vorster Square police station building in Johannesburg in October 1971, replacing it with a finding of murder.
Judge Mothle found that Timol was either pushed from the 10th floor or from the roof.
He found that the then security branch police officers who had interrogated Timol at the time were collectively responsible for his death and should be held accountable.
He said the act was committed through dolus eventualis – his interrogators should have foreseen that he could die – and on the face of it, it amounted to murder.
While many of the security policemen directly associated with Timol’s arrest and murder have since died, Judge Mothle recommended three former members face charges.
The judge ruled that Joao Rodrigues, 80, should be charged as an accessory to murder, and Seth Sons and Neville Els, both 82, for perjury.
At the hearing, two independent pathologist had told the court that Timol had injuries which were not consistent with a fall from a height.
One of the pathologists said Timol had a severe injury to his ankle, which would have made it impossible for him to walk without assistance, and could not have jumped out of the window unless assisted.
In the family’s statement, Timol’s nephew, Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, said: “As a family, we have run a long, painful and exhausting race to see justice done.”
Approached for comment on the matter yesterday, NPA spokesperson advocate Luvuyo Mfaku said the docket had been finalised and been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions in Johannesburg. “We await the decision,” he said.
‘We have run a long, painful and exhausting race to see justice done’