More than 40 years after anti-apartheid activist Dr Neil Aggett’s death was declared a suicide while in detention, the Johannesburg High Court has found he was killed by the security police after being tortured for days. Aggett (28 at the time) was found hanging in his cell at John Vorster Square police station in 1982, where had been detained for 70 days on suspicion of treason.
A 1982 inquest, chaired by magistrate Pieter Kotze, cleared the apartheid government and ruled his death a suicide.
After the finding of the re-opened inquest into his death, the court has now called for the prosecution of the police involved in his interrogation and torture, reports The Sowetan.
Agget’s family and Lawyers for Human Rights had long maintained that Aggett, a medical doctor and trade union organiser, had been killed by the security police.
Last Friday (4 March), Judge Motsamai Makume handed down judgment in the inquest that has spanned two years and called for the security branch members still alive to be held to account.
“There is evidence supporting the view that statements from members of the security branch, police officers investigating the death of Dr Aggett and the [inquest] proceedings in 1982 were all part of a cover-up or attempt to conceal the truth about how he died,” Motsamai said.
The judge said former police branch officers, including Paul Erasmus and Nicolas Deetlefs, had admitted in court that covering up to protect officers was general practice.
Lt Stephan Whitehead, tasked with interrogating Aggett after his arrest, was found by Motsamai to have been among those who killed him.
Motsamai said Whitehead, who died in 2019, had been angry that Aggett had formally reported him for torturing him.
“Aggett had had enough of the torture and complained on 4 February. Judging by his character he was prepared to continue with the claim and for that reason, he died within 15 hours after making the statement,” he said.
In his judgment, Makume found Kotze was biased and not interested in finding out what had happened to Aggett, but rather why he had killed himself, reports News24.
“Dr Neil Aggett did not commit suicide. He was killed by the members of the security branch… When Neil didn’t regain consciousness [after he was tortured], they took him back to his cell, propped him up and hanged him.”
The judge said he was appalled by how Kotze had ignored testimony that Aggett was tortured on numerous occasions and that he had even filed a complaint. In one incident, just days before his death, he was interrogated for 62 hours.
Makume said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should pursue criminal charges against those involved in Aggett’s death.
The NPA welcomed the judgment that set aside the initial inquest into Aggett’s death.
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