Johannesburg - Anti-apartheid activist Jabu Ngwenya has disputed that his fellow detainee Dr Neil Aggett had died in his cell at John Vorster Square police station where his body was found hanging in 1982.
Ngwenya was concluding his testimony on Thursday at the inquest into Aggett’s death which is currently under way at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
While no foul play was found by a previous apartheid inquest into Aggett’s death, fellow activists who were detained during the same time as him accused the security police of being behind his death.
On Wednesday, Ngwenya told the inquiry that Aggett had told him that he was being tortured and showed him marks that showed that he was being subjected to electric shocks.
He said there was heavy commotion and movement of police around Aggett’s cell the night before his death was announced.
On Thursday morning, Ngwenya said he did not believe Aggett had died in his cell.
“He had died on the tenth floor. That is my belief. I had that feeling…to say the body of Neil Aggett had been moved in and also to stage his death. That is how I viewed and looked at it. They brought him in already dead,” he said.
Forensic pathologist Dr Steve Naidoo was also lined up to take the stand at the inquest.