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 in detention since 1960. His nephew is still seeking justice for him.
Image: www.ahmedtimol.co.za
For 54 years, the ghost of Ahmed Timol has haunted the halls of South African justice.
Now, a scathing affidavit by his nephew, Imtiaz Cajee, has laid bare not only the absurdity of the apartheid-era "suicide" narrative, but a modern-day "systemic suppression" that has allegedly shielded killers from the dock for decades.
The document, submitted to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the non-prosecution of TRC cases, headed by Justice Sisi Khampepe, serves as a primary exhibit in what is becoming a historic reckoning for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Cajee’s affidavit meticulously dismantles the findings of the original 1972 inquest, presided over by Magistrate JL de Villiers. That inquest famously concluded that Timol, a teacher and anti-apartheid activist, jumped to his death from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square "whilst having a cup of tea with his interrogators".
The magistrate’s reasoning was based on the improbable claim that the Security Branch would never harm a high-profile captive. Cajee quotes the 1972 record, noting the magistrate’s ironic assertion that Timol was a "big fish" of "inestimable value" to the police, and therefore, they would have preserved his life at all costs.
"This version was maintained although Timol’s co-accused, Saleem Essop, was being tortured into a coma in the same building during that very weekend," Cajee notes. "The state narrative was not just a lie; it was an insult to the intelligence of the oppressed."
After decades of private investigation by Cajee, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, reopened the inquest in 2017. Justice Billy Mothle’s ruling was definitive: Timol did not commit suicide.
He was pushed from the window or the roof after being brutally tortured. Mothle recommended the immediate prosecution of Joao Rodrigues, the former Security Branch clerk who was the last person seen with Timol.
However, Cajee’s affidavit reveals that the 2017 victory was merely the start of a new war against a democratic state that seemed "reluctant" to follow its own court orders.
"The 2017 inquest confirmed what we knew since 1971," Cajee writes. "But instead of justice, we met a familiar pattern of conduct characterised by reluctance and deliberate stalling by the NPA and the DPCI (Hawks)."
The affidavit comes at a critical juncture as the Khampepe Commission, formally known as the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations Regarding Efforts or Attempts to Stop the Investigation or Prosecution of TRC Cases, begins to probe why over 300 cases recommended by the TRC were "mothballed" for nearly 20 years.
Cajee alleges that the failure to prosecute the "Timol case" and others like it was not an administrative error, but a deliberate "institutional failure". He cites a 2006 "premature closure" of his uncle's file and the state's failure to act on a 1997 recommendation by TRC investigator Piers Pigou to subpoena Rodrigues.
"My personal journey demonstrates how victims' families have been forced to act as investigators, filling the void left by state institutions that failed to uphold their constitutional duties," the affidavit reads.
It also highlights the legal gymnastics employed by Rodrigues, who died in 2021 before he could stand trial. Rodrigues had sought a permanent stay of prosecution, arguing that the "long delay" by the state violated his rights.
While the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court ultimately dismissed Rodrigues’ bid, Cajee argues the state's initial 15-year silence between 2003 and 2017 gave the perpetrator the ammunition to challenge the law.
"The state’s own lethargy became the perpetrator’s best defence," Cajee asserts.
As the Khampepe Commission continues its work, Cajee is demanding that the commission admit his documented years of struggle as evidence of the failure of investigating and prosecuting TRC cases.
He argues that the "tea-time lie" of 1972 has been replaced by a "bureaucratic lie" in the democratic era, one that pretends the state is pursuing justice while it waits for both witnesses and perpetrators to die of old age.
"Justice delayed is indeed justice denied," Cajee concludes. "We are not just asking for a day in court; we are asking for an explanation as to why the doors to that court were padlocked for 20 years by the very people who were supposed to hold the keys."
The NPA has recently stated it is "committed" to the TRC cases, pointing to a newly established unit to handle these matters.
karabo.ngoepe@inl.co.za