Now the timing of Timol’s death plunge is queried too…
WAS the country fooled for 46 years into believing Ahmed Timol fell to his death in the late afternoon? This was the question on everyone’s lips yesterday, the 14th day of the inquest into his death.
Startling new evidence emerged in the high court in Pretoria when a witness was adamant that Timol had plunged to his death around mid-morning, and not late afternoon.
Businessman Muhammed Ali Thokan told Judge Billy Mothle he was at the petrol station across the road from John Vorster Square on the morning of September 27, 1971.
Thokan said he was locking his fuel cap when he heard a thump. He said a pedestrian walking down the street shouted that someone had fallen from the top of John Vorster Square.
Thokan said he tried to go and see if he could assist, but as he was halfway across the road, three plain-clothed policemen told him to “f*** off”.
He left before he saw the body. He did not at the time know it was Timol, but he later read about the incident in newspapers.
Thokan was grilled about the time of day when he was at the garage, during which he heard the thump. He was adamant that it was mid-morning, although he did not know the exact time.
For the past 46 years, the police and even the doctor who pronounced Timol dead, put the time of death at shortly before 4pm.
Asked how he was so sure this incident happened in the morning, Thokan said he was on his way to Pretoria to obtain a trading licence, and remembered the occasion well.
Anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Kasrils also took the stand and confirmed that it was definitely not ANC or SACP policy to encourage its members in detention to commit suicide.
Kasrils said recruits were trained in what to do when they were arrested and tortured, and how to survive it.