Johannesburg - Three of the 23 police officers believed to have been involved in the mysterious death of Ahmed Timol are still alive.
This was the revelation made by Captain Ben Nel during the reopened inquest at the High Court in Joburg on Monday Morning.
Timol died in 1971 and the official statement at the time was that he had fallen from the 10th floor of the the infamous John Vorster Square, currently Johannesburg police station.
Timol had been arrested along with his comrade and friend Dr Salim Essop after they were caught with banned ANC and SACP literature in the car they were travelling in.
Captain Nel, in his testimony, revealed that Warrant Officer N Els, Sergeant J Roderigues and Sergeant UP Fourie were the only apartheid State survivors of Timol's suspected eerie death.
#AhmedTimolInquest. Members of the Khulumani Support singing ahead of the reopened case of late activist. @ReporterStar pic.twitter.com/MOt35pBeJm
— khaya koko (@khayakoko88) June 26, 2017
Nel was the investigating officer who wrote a memorandum in October 2015 that there was a need to reopen the inquest into Timol's death.
Els was called to identify the banned literature and said the documents were indeed communist in nature.
#AhmedTimolInquest. Esteemed lawyer Adv. George Bizos in court for the reopened case of the late activist. @ReporterStar pic.twitter.com/fGbTd4qM5d
— khaya koko (@khayakoko88) June 26, 2017
Roderigues was a clerk at John Vorster Square, who said Timol jumped out of the window after hearing that the police had found a certain "Mr X", who was going to testify that Timol was planning a "communist overthrow" of the apartheid regim.
#AhmedTimolInquest. Judge Mothle says inquest will open door that will "rekindle pain" for South Africans. @ReporterStar pic.twitter.com/fY9YuQrmR1
— khaya koko (@khayakoko88) June 26, 2017
Fourie was an assistant state mortuary curator, who received Timol's battered mortal remains upon arrival.
Nel, who has been an officer for 30 years, added that he interviewed Essop in 2015 which led him to conclude that there was evidence to reopen the inquest.
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