Apartheid: I did wrong, says ex-cop

Former security branch police officer Martin Naude has admitted he “did wrong” during apartheid but he is adamant he had nothing to do with struggle activist Neil Aggett’s death in detention.

Naude, who spent several days interrogating Aggett following his arrest, gave testimony in the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday when the inquest into Aggett’s death resumed following a lengthy postponement.

Asked by his counsel, advocate Stefanus Coetzee, if he had any involvement in the doctor-come-trade-unionist’s death, now-retired Naude, 71, was firm: “Not in any way.”

He said his interactions with Aggett had been “cordial” and “friendly” and they had enjoyed “a very good working relationship”.

In 2001, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) granted Naude amnesty for his involvement in a plot to plant a cache of weapons and ammunition in Krugersdorp and frame the ANC for it. This was a bid to drum up public support for a cross-border operation the state was planning, with ANC operatives in Botswana its target.

Naude said yesterday if he had anything to do with Aggett’s death, he would have come clean at the TRC.

“I was sorry. I did wrong and I had to rectify it. That was why I participated,” he said. “If I was involved in any other atrocities, I would have applied for amnesty.”

Aggett was arrested on the morning of 27 November, 1981.

On 5 February, 1982, he was found hanging in his cell at what was then John Vorster Square, now Johannesburg Central police station.

The inquest at the time found no one was to blame.

It was, however, reopened last year on the back of sustained pressure from Aggett’s family, who maintain he was either murdered or tortured so severely that his suicide was “induced”.

In March last year, proceedings came to a halt after Judge Motsamai Makume, who is presiding over the case, was admitted to hospital. It was set to resume in June but had to be postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the time Aggett was arrested, Naude was based in East London. He was sent to Johannesburg to interview Aggett and his girlfriend, Dr Elizabeth Floyd.

The case continues today.

I was sorry. I did wrong and I had to rectify it. That was why I participated. Martin Naude Former security branch police officer