Cape Town – The Judge President of the South Gauteng High Court has appointed Judge Billy Mothle to oversee the re-opening of the inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol 45 years ago.
There are three dates for the hearing. The first leg of the inquest will rum from June 26 to June 30 in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. The case resumes on July 24 until August 4 with the final dates on August 10 and 11.
Timol – a teacher, member of the SA Communist Party and anti-apartheid activist – allegedly died at the hands of security police at John Vorster Square in Joburg.
Days of alleged torture and threats culminated in an incident where Timol was seemingly thrown from a 10th floor window.
The inquest that followed has been described as a farce by Timol’s family, with the presiding magistrate ruling the 39-year-old’s death a suicide. It was found that he had jumped to his death from the John Vorster Square Police Station.
Despite medical evidence presented of gruesome torture, Magistrate J J L de Villiers found that the security police had treated Timol compassionately, and no one was responsible for his death.
After a private investigation launched by the Timol family and human rights activists, the evidence uncovered was presented to the NPA in January 2016. National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams later called for a new inquest into the teacher’s death.
“Our immediate priority is to have the apartheid era inquest finding of nobody to blame reversed” Timol's nephew Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee said.
Cajee said the re-opening of the inquest was long overdue and years of perseverance had finally paid off.
His grandmother, Hawa Timol (Ahmed Timol's mother) 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.
“Our immediate priority is to have the finding of “nobody to blame” reversed. My grandmother was humiliated by Magistrate de Villiers and branded a liar when she testified how a security branch officer told her that she had not given her son a hiding 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.
However, the pain and anguish of other family member’s remains embedded with Cajee. “We wait for the findings to be reversed and the honour and dignity of comrade Timol restored."
The Timol family has been supported by the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and legal assistance provided pro-bono by Webber Wentzel, attorneys in their quest to reverse the inquest findings. “This would not happen without their assistance. Surely, the government of the day cannot abdicate their responsibilities in finding closure for their fallen comrades,” adds Cajee.
Timol was a school teacher at the Roodepoort Indian High School. He left South Africa in December 1966 to perform the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, and moved on to London where he linked up with his exiled friends, Essop and Aziz Pahad. A decision was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party that Timol would undergo his political training at the Lenin School in the Soviet Union in 1969, accompanied by Thabo Mbeki and Anne Nicholson.
Timol returned to South Africa in 1970, and proceeded to build underground structures for the banned ANC and SACP. He was successful in distributing propaganda material by mailing lists throughout the country for a period of 18 months.
On the evening of 22 October 1971, Timol accompanied by medical student, Saleem Essop, were stopped at a police roadblock in Coronationville. Timol and Essop were taken to the Newlands Police Station where they were separated and later taken to the John Vorster Square Police Station. F
our days and 19 hours later, police alleged that Timol jumped to his death.
By then, Essop was in hospital after being tortured to an inch of his life.