Foundation demands justice
The National Prosecuting Authority has been criticised for its decision not to prosecute two former apartheid police security branch members who allegedly tortured many political detainees in the ’70s.
Some of these detainees, like Ahmed Timol, died at their hands.
The Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) has asked for former police officer Seth Sons, who was known to his victims for the brutal torture of detainees, be brought to book. The former the Security Branch officer retired from the police force with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
The FHR cited records that showed Sons and his colleague, Neville Els, were in the room when anti-apartheid activist Timol was murdered in detention in 1971.
In the case of Els, who was a warrant officer at the time, police records in the Timol inquest showed that he was one of the police interrogators on duty the night that Timol’s fellow detainee, Kantilal Naik, was tortured using the “helicopter method”.
During the reopened Timol case, Salim Essop, another former detainee, said Els also threatened him saying that “you will suffer the same fate as Babla Saloojee if you do not cooperate”.
Salojee fell to his death from a window on the 10th floor of the then John Vorster police station.
Essop, who was dangled in the air out of a window with security branch officers threatening to drop him, was so severely tortured that he ended up in hospital. He returned to South Africa to testify at the reopened Timol case.
“Neville Els and Seth Sons were wellknown to activists from the coloured and Indian townships for having been responsible for their detention and torture,” said the foundation.
The foundation said neither Sons nor Els had ever been investigated by the NPA for their roles as alleged torturers and in aiding and abetting apartheid killings and torture.
“Any hope that the new leadership at the NPA would do so has been dashed by the recent decision of NPA director of public prosecutions [DPP] for north Gauteng not to take action against Seth Sons and Neville Els.”
The foundation said the DPP’s argument that age was an issue that precluded the NPA from indicting these two alleged perpetrators was not only morally revolting, but a travesty of justice.
The foundation’s former executive director, Yasmin Sooka, accused the NPA of being willing to be complicit in the torture by not prosecuting Sons.
The foundation said the NPA had been derelict in its responsibilities and was willing to become complicit in deepening impunity in country “for not only apartheid crimes but torture”.
“Twenty-four years after the end of apartheid, the NPA, who should be passionately committed to delivering justice and accountability to our people, have once again let them down,” Sooka said.
“Torture is considered a grave crime by the international community and states are obliged to ensure that those responsible for torture are held accountable, whether that torture occurred now or in the past.
“There is no prescription for these crimes. Also, prescription does not apply for apartheid crimes under our law. Do we need to teach senior legal officials the law?”
NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said as far as the assault charges at John Vorster Square were concerned, the charges had prescribed as a period of 20 years had passed since the alleged commission of the offences in 1982/83.
“Regarding perjury charges, the state must prove that their evidence is intentionally false,” Ngwema said.
“Both Mr Els and Sons gave three standard answers regarding their knowledge of the assault of detainees.
“They said they were not aware of the assaults on detainees and that they can’t remember or that they read about them in newspapers.”
The NPA, who should be passionately committed to delivering justice and accountability to our people, have once again let them down.
Yasmin Sooka
Ex-FHR executive director