Reopened inquest into Timol’s death ‘painful’
MAKING another emotional return to the place where his uncle Ahmed Timol died, Imtiaz Cajee is adamant about one thing: “My uncle is not a victim.”
Cajee was speaking to The Cape Times’ sister paper, The Star, yesterday on the 10th floor of the Johannesburg Central Police Station – a once-infamous building formerly known as John Vorster Square, where Timol fell 10 storeys to his death in October 1971 after being detained.
Cajee was at the station for an on-site visit led by Judge J Mothle in connection with the reopened inquest into his uncle’s death. It was ruled a suicide by magistrate JL de Villiers in June 1972.
Cajee contended that Timol and his friend, Dr Salim Essop, played a small but important role in trying to revive the anti-apartheid struggle by distributing what was then banned SACP and ANC literature, after the regime had “largely suppressed” resistance following the 1960s Sharpeville massacre and Rivonia Trial.
The pair were caught with the banned literature in the car they were travelling in.
“They were freedom fighters. The apartheid regime had thought they had crushed all forms of opposition following Sharpeville. And here comes a cell distributing political literature. So, if the security branch thought they had crushed all forms of opposition, they were mistaken because it (Timol’s death) only inspired a new generation of freedom fighters.”
Essop was also at the on-sight visit, where he took the inquest’s presiding officer, Judge Mothle, to room 1013, where he said he was tortured for roughly four days following his arrest, and room 1026 – the room where Timol supposedly jumped to death.
Essop also demonstrated to the judge what he said were Timol’s movements the last time he saw his friend alive, saying he saw him dragging his feet past room 1013 with a hood over his head and two police officers holding Timol on either side.
Essop said he was in the room 1013 vault when he got a short sight of his comrade looking severely injured and in pain. He was giving testimony at the high court in Johannesburg this week.
Cajee said it was painful to hear this testimony, much like it was painful to return to a building where he said his uncle suffered untold brutality.
“Every time one comes here, it doesn’t get any easier – it becomes more difficult and painful,” Cajee said.
“But my thoughts and prayers don’t just go out to Dr Essop and my uncle, but every single political detainee who was tortured here.” Letters Page 8