Fresh Timol inquest
APARTHEID INQUIRY HUMILIATED FAMILY MEMBERS Next-of-kin say they never believed activist committed suicide by jumping from 10th floor.
It’s been 45 years, and finally an inquest has been reopened into anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol’s death following his 10-storey plunge to the ground while under interrogation and police detention at the notorious John Vorster Square.
“Our immediate priority is to have the apartheid-era inquest finding of ‘nobody to blame’ reversed,” said Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, Timol’s nephew upon the announcement of the dates of the inquest.
The High Court in Johannesburg’s judge president appointed Judge Billy Mothle to oversee the reopening of the inquest, which is expected to run from June 26 to 30.
The case will then resume on July 24 and run until August 4, with the final dates of the case scheduled for August 10 and 11.
Timol, who was a South African Communist Party member, Umkhonto we Sizwe operative and a Roodepoort teacher, was the 22nd political detainee to die in detention since 1960.
Members of Timol’s family, close friends and comrades never believed the 29-yearold committed suicide by jumping from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square police station, now renamed Johannesburg Central police station.
“They believed that Timol was either tortured to death and thrown from the building or pushed to his death,” the Ahmed Timol Family Trust and the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) said. They remained convinced that the inquest was a cover-up.
“A private investigation on behalf of the Timol family presented evidence to the NPA in January 2016. “They argued that apartheid-era Magistrate de Villiers had erred in his findings, and that compelling evidence exists for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to necessitate the reopening of the inquest, in the interest of justice. “Magistrate De Villiers concluded during the original Timol inquest in 1972 that he was not tortured during his detention, the Security Branch officers were credible witnesses and that the detainee had committed suicide. “He found nobody responsible for his death,” the trustees said.
The private investigation, on behalf of the Timol family, presented evidence to the NPA in January 2016.
Cajee added that the reopening of the inquest was long overdue “and years of perseverance had finally paid off”.
Timol’s mother, Cajee’s grandmother, appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 to plea for answers to her son’s death.
“They were not forthcoming as none of the perpetrators were subpoenaed to testify and provide their version of events leading to Timol’s death.”
Cajee said his grandmother “was humiliated by magistrate De Villiers and branded a liar when she testified how a Security Branch officer told her she had not given her son hidings when growing up, and that they were going to do this for her”.
“My grandmother has since passed away, but she will be smiling at the news of the reopening of the inquest,” Cajee said.
“We wait for the honour and dignity of comrade Timol to be restored.” –