Last chance for Timol cop to come clean

Imtiaz Cajee, Ahmed Timol’s nephew, recalled how the Security Branch frequently visited his family home.

Imtiaz Cajee, Ahmed Timol’s nephew, recalled how the Security Branch frequently visited his family home.

Published Oct 6, 2018

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Johannesburg - Imtiaz Cajee never believed that one day he would face the man who might have had a hand in his uncle Ahmed Timol’s killing. 

The best he had hoped for was perhaps finding an ageing document buried in a state archive that might have shed light on what had happened in room 1026 in the then notorious John Vorster Square 47 years ago. 

That was the day that Timol, an anti-apartheid activist, fell to his death from the 10th floor of the police station.

For decades, Cajee searched for answers about what happened to Timol in those final hours of his detention, after being arrested in a roadblock on October 22, 1971. 

He tracked down witnesses who saw the body fall and even reconstructed a scale model of the roadblock that finally snared Timol. This roadblock, made from Lego blocks, showed the layout of the buildings that once lined Fuel Street in Coronationville, Joburg. 

There is even a model of the yellow Ford Anglia that Timol was driving at the time of his arrest.

Last year, an inquest was reopened into Timol’s death. The original inquest had ruled that he had died as a result of suicide. 

Ahmed Timol was a young schoolteacher in Roodepoort who opposed apartheid. He was arrested at a police roadblock on October 22, 1971, and died five days later. He was the 22nd political detainee to die while in detention from 1960. Picture: www.ahmedtimol.co.za

To the surprise of the Timol family, the publicity generated by the inquest resulted in three former police officers being identified who had a hand in Timol’s interrogation. 

Cajee had believed that all the former security branch members who were present at Timol’s death on October 27, 1971, were dead.

One of the men, Joao Roderiques, who was allegedly the last person to see Timol alive, has been charged with murder. He will be appearing in court for a pre-trial hearing this month. 

“It has been a very, very difficult year, but we are elated by the ruling last October,” said Cajee. “Progress has been made, but we are also frustrated over these lengthy delays.” 

But one of the results of the Timol case is that just a couple of days ago it was announced that an inquest would be opened to investigate the death of Dr Hoosen Haffejee, the 45th political detainee to die in police detention.

Haffejee was a dentist and anti-apartheid activist from Pietermaritzburg who was arrested by police.

He died on August 3, 1977, at the Brighton police station. An inquest, a year later, ruled Haffejee, like Timol, had committed suicide.

Cajee had helped the Haffejee family in their quest to find the truth behind his death.

“Prayers were answered hearing the news from the minister,” read a statement from the family. “The family wants the truth to emerge. We never believed our brother committed suicide, but was murdered.”

However, Cajee’s concern was that time was running out, and Haffejee’s family were getting old. 

“The fact that the Haffejee matter has been reopened is a significant milestone, but in the same breath we hope that the matter is fast-tracked so the court proceedings can commence quickly,” he says.

A team of investigators, lawyers and human rights advocates, who worked on the Timol and now the Haffejee case, are looking at seven other police-related deaths that occurred during apartheid. These include the Neil Aggett, Babla Saloojee, Matthews Mabelane Nicodemus Kgoathe Solomon Modipane, Jacob Monnokgotla and Nokuthula Simelane.

But tackling these cases are difficult, explains historian Nicky Rousseau, even when there were witnesses in the dock.

“There is a question of memory. I can’t remember the 1980s and we expect perpetrators to remember every single thing,” says the UWC academic. 

“The big details you will remember, but I also suspect that they blur into a whole lot of other incidents, and if torture is routine, then the individual cases don’t necessarily stand out.”

FORTY-SEVEN years ago, police cordoned off an area 10 floors below room 1026 at the then notorious John Vorster Square police station, where anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol’s lifeless body lay. Picture: Itumeleng English African News Agency (ANA)

Cajee is waiting for Roderiques’ next court appearance and hopes it will give some idea of his defence.

Already, Timol’s family have been given a taste of what may be in store. 

During the inquest, Roderiques and two of his then-colleagues, Seth Sons and Neville Els, continually repeated the phrase: “I cannot remember, your honour.”

But Cajee is hoping Roderiques has a change of heart and tells the court what happened in the final hours of Timol’s life.

“He needs to make a full disclosure, so we can have reconciliation. We understand the political context of the time, but it is imperative he comes clean. If he is not prepared to do so, then he must face the full wrath of the law.”

The Saturday Star

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