‘History must reflect the truth’

ORTY-SIX years after his death, the family of apartheid activist Ahmed Timol want the annals of history to reflect that he was killed and did not take his own life.

Timol, 29, a member of the then-banned SACP and his former pupil and friend, Salim Essop, a medical student at the time, were arrested near Fordsburg in October 1971 during a police roadblock. Police found they were in possession of political pamphlets.

Four days later, apartheid police alleged Timol committed suicide by jumping out of the window of room 1026 on the 10th floor of John Vorster Square Police Station in Johannesburg (now Johannesburg Central Police Station).

Magistrate JL De Villiers concluded during Timol’s initial inquest in 1972 that he had not been tortured during his detention. He found that the security branch officers were credible witnesses and Timol had committed suicide. De Villiers found nobody responsible for his death.

However, Timol’s family refused to believe he had taken his own life. They conducted their own investigations, led by internationally acclaimed retired policeman Frank Dutton, and presented the new evidence to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) last January, requesting a re-hearing into Timol’s case.

In an interview with POST, Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Cajee said the family wanted De Villiers’s ruling replaced.

“Our uncle did not commit suicide. He was killed in police detention. The annals of history must correctly reflect that he was killed and did not commit suicide,” said Cajee.

He said the progress the hearing had made in the last two weeks had been overwhelming.

His family wants answers and closure. “The perpetrators must make a full disclosure and reveal what happened,” Cajee said.

Timol was the 22nd of 73 political detainees to die in detention between 1963 and 1990, according to the SA History website.

Cajee, who was only 5-yearsold when Timol died, said he cherished the fond memories he had of his uncle.

“My uncle loved life. He was loved by his students, family and neighbours. I was only 5, but I remember accompanying him to the Roodepoort Club to watch him swim,” said Cajee.

Last week, forensic pathologists Professor Steve Naidoo and Dr Shakeera Holland gave evidence before Judge Billy Mothle at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

They were requested by the Timol family to review, separately, all available evidence and information, including the postmortem report and a series of photographs.

Both specialists concluded Timol had sustained major injuries before falling.

This contradicted what De Villiers had found: “Timol was well treated while in custody and was drinking a cup of coffee in the company of a Sergeant Joao Rodriguez when he unexpectedly jumped from the window – so quickly, that Rodriguez had no time to stop him.”

Naidoo, former chief specialist and professor of forensic medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, said in his opinion Timol had been so severely assaulted that it would have made it “immensely difficult” for him to climb onto the windowsill.

It was not unlikely Timol was unconscious, or slipping in and out of consciousness, when he fell from the window, he said.

“Could the deceased have clambered up to the window ledge in the condition he was in? I believe this is immensely difficult to do with a likely left ankle fracture – dislocation and severe injury to the right calf muscles (plus the other bodily injuries which, although skin injuries, the significant somatic effects of these must be born in mind),” said Naidoo.

Holland listed numerous bruises, scabs, contusions, abrasions and fractures that she said could not be associated with the fall. These included a depressed skull fracture that may have rendered him unconscious, three jaw fractures and a broken nose – injuries that would have made drinking coffee virtually impossible, Holland said.

The extent of the bruising on Timol’s legs would have made it difficult for him to stand.

“The multiple injuries that were present on the body of the deceased, which could not be ascribed to the fall from a height, indicate that the deceased sustained physical assault while in police custody prior to his death,” said Holland. “This finding calls into question the conclusion of the original inquest process that the manner of death was suicide (and) therefore this finding must be challenged.”

Rodriguez, 78, was the only policeman who was with Timol when he died. He was subpoenaed to appear in court.

On Monday he testified that his superiors had ordered him to lie in his statemet that he and Timol got into a fight moments before Timol “dived” out of the window. But he maintained that he did not lay a finger on Timol and refused to lie.

He eventully resigned from the police force because he knew he would never be considered for a promotion. His evidence raised questions as to why police wanted him to lie about the assault.

Last Friday trajectory expert Thivash Moodley, an aeronautical engineer, said it would have been impossible for Timol to jump from a 10th floor window, “and land only 3m away from the building”.

Moodley’s evidence supported evidence given by retired state advocate and eyewitness, advocate Ernie Matthis, who testified earlier last week.

Matthis said he had been working on the fourth or sixth floor of John Vorster Square when he saw the body fall.

“It was falling horizontally, not head or feet first, parallel to the face of the building with the head pointing towards the highway. I looked down to see where the body landed and immediately looked up, and couldn’t see an open window,” said Matthis.

Dutton also testified last week, saying Timol’s death was a “cover up of the truth”.

He said if the police wanted to prove his death was suicide and not murder, they should have done an impartial investigation – which they did not do.

“They appointed a certain general. He was not impartial. He believed Timol committed suicide,” Dutton said.

“Certain individuals should have been subjected to an administrative inquiry – but there was no inquiry because this was part of a cover-up.”

Dutton said Timol’s body had been removed immediately after falling and that was not normal procedure. “His body should have stayed on (the) scene for as long as necessary,” he said.

He said the police failed to mark the position in which he fell or take pictures of the body at the scene.

Earlier, Essop described in court how he had been brutally assaulted by police in the days after being arrested with Timol.

He said the last time he saw Timol, he had been shuffling down a passage escorted by police with his head in a hood. Essop said Timol appeared to have been “brutally tortured”.

Executive director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Neeshan Balton, said the hearing was an important step in setting historical records straight.

“Many activists were badly tortured, but police versions of events would simply put their deaths as suicide,” Balton said.

“We support the Timol family. Cajee and his family have persevered to keep Timol’s legacy alive and get the inquest reopened… The truth of what had happened to Timol following his arrest must be uncovered. The correct representation of facts will restore the dignity of this brave anti-apartheid activist in the public record.”

The hearing is still proceeding.