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NPA agrees to re-open inquest into death of Ahmed Timol

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Ahmed Timol. Picture: www.ahmedtimol.co.za
Ahmed Timol. Picture: www.ahmedtimol.co.za

In what is expected to be a landmark investigation that will shed much needed light on the circumstances surrounding the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, the National Prosecuting Authority announced yesterday that it would be reopening the inquest into Timol’s death – 45 years later.

It was initially decided in 1972 by Magistrate JJL de Villiers, who presided over the case at the time, that Timol had committed suicide and that there was no foul play involved after he was arrested and held at John Vorster Square for interrogation by police.

The building’s lift only went up to the ninth floor and it is alleged that he had jumped to his death from the tenth floor.

Timol’s family had initiated their own investigation into his death and the NPA was presented with fresh new evidence which suggested that De Villiers had erred in issuing such findings.

The family requested that the inquest be reopened to examine Timol’s death afresh. After considering this evidence the NPA agreed that there was compelling evidence necessitating the reopening of the inquest in the interest of justice.

National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams wrote to Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha requesting that the judge president of the Gauteng High Court appoint a judge to re-open the inquest.

Timol was a teacher at the Roodepoort Indian High School. His days as a freedom fighter began after he underwent political training at the Lenin School in the Soviet Union in 1969, where he was accompanied by Thabo Mbeki and Mbeki’s girlfriend Ann Nicholson.

Upon his return to South Africa in 1970 he began building underground structures for the banned ANC and SACP. He had successfully distributed propaganda material by mailing lists across the country for 18 months.

On the evening of October 22 1971, Timol and medical student Saleem Essop were stopped at a police roadblock in Coronationville. They were taken to the Newlands Police Station where they were separated and were later moved to John Vorster Square Police Station.

Four 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.

Timol was the 22nd person to die in police custody, and many more were to follow.

Responding to the NPA’s decision to pursue reopening the inquest, Timol’s nephew, Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, said he hoped the family of Neil Aggett would get similar good news soon. He paid tribute to Timol’s mother, Hawa Timol, who appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 to plea for the case to be reopened.

“My grandmother has since passed away, but she will be smiling in heaven today,” Cajee said.

To commemorate the 45th anniversary of Timol’s death, Cajee will be in Ginsberg, King Williams Town, at the Steve Biko Foundation, where the Ahmed Timol Exhibition will be opening tomorrow. Biko was brutally murdered in police detention in 1977.

It is hoped that the re-opening of the Timol inquest will set a precedent for other families to follow suit.

A year ago the family of Timol had called for the reopening of the inquest into his death.

Footage: SABC Digital News


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