Durban - The reopening of the inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol has given the Haffejee family renewed hope that the circumstances leading to their brother’s death in 1977 will be revealed.
Hoosen Haffejee’s sister, Sara Lall, said the reopening of the Timol inquest last year had given all the families of apartheid-era victims hope that they, too, would get answers on whether their loved ones were murdered by the security police.
“We are very grateful to Timol’s nephew, Imtiaz Cajee, for the support he has given us,” said Lall.
She said Minister of Justice Michael Masutha, had signed the order recommending the inquest be reopened.
Lall said Hoosen was the 45th political detainee to die in detention and many more were to follow.
The decision to reopen the inquest came after the national director of public prosecutions presented a memorandum based on new evidence to the minister. If the police officers involved are found to be responsible for Haffejee’s death, the National Prosecuting Authority can proceed with criminal charges.
NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said the minister signed the documentation earlier last month but notified the family only last week. A judge would be appointed to hear the matter.
It has been 41 years since Haffejee was found dead in a Durban prison cell but not a day has gone by that Lall and her brother Ishmail Haffejee have not thought about him, anxious to know the truth behind his death.
Haffejee, a 26-year-old dentist at Durban’s St George V hospital and an anti-apartheid activist from Pietermaritzburg, died on August 3, 1977, at Brighton police station in Durban - 20 hours after being arrested by security police under the Terrorism Act.
Captains James Taylor and Piet du Toit and other operatives of the special branch arrested him on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the state.
Despite multiple injuries covering his back, knees, arms and head, magistrate Trevor Blunden, who presided over the inquest in 1978, ruled that he had committed suicide.
The police claimed he hanged himself with his trousers by tying them to the grille door in his cell.