Ahmed Timol Archives - Voice of the Cape

Timol family ‘cautiously optimistic’ over former police sergeant’s court appearance

The nephew of anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Timol, says the family is cautiously optimistic ahead of the appearance of former security branch police sergeant Joao Jan Rodrigues in court on Monday. The NPA confirmed 80-year-old Joao Rodrigues would be appearing in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice. Almost 46 years since his death, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last year found […]

30 July 2018

News

Mohammed Dangor on Ahmed Timol and the TRC process

By Thakira Desai Being raised in an activist family, former South African ambassador to Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Dangor and his siblings joined the struggle at an early age. Five of the nine siblings actively took part in the struggle, one dying as member of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), another banned by the Apartheid state, another a former member of uMkhonto we Sizwe and his sister, deputy […]

18 October 2017

Local

Court rules Timol was pushed to his death

Pretoria High Court Judge Billy Mothle has ruled that activist Ahmed Timol did not commit suicide but was brutally tortured and pushed from the 10th floor of the notorious John Vorster Square police building in October 1971. An inquest held in 1972 found that he had committed suicide by jumping from the 10th floor but Timol’s family have refused to accept that he had killed himself and asked for the […]

12 October 2017

Local

Timol’s cousin fought tears during funeral, fearing arrest

The cousin of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol wept as he recalled how he could not shed a tear when he saw Timol’s wounded lifeless body because it would put him at risk of arrest by the security branch police. With a lump in his throat, Farouk Dindar was forced to hold back his tears when the white sheet was unwrapped, revealing Timol's body ahead of his Muslim burial ceremony. "When […]

2 August 2017

Local

Second sitting of Ahmed Timol death inquest resumes

The second sitting of the inquest looking into anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol’s death at John Vorster Square in 1971 will resume on Monday. The inquest into Timol’s death while he was in the custody of security branch police is set to continue in the High Court in Pretoria. Timol's death on October 27, 1971, was ruled a suicide following an inquest in 1972. However, a private investigation commissioned by his […]

31 July 2017

Local

Timol, Essop detained illegally and tortured, inquest hears

Apartheid-era police illegally held anti-apartheid activists Ahmed Timol and Salim Essop at John Vorster Square in order to torture them, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday. "They were held, in my view, illegally in the offices on the 10th floor. One can only come to the conclusion that it was for reasons of torture and it was for reasons of sleep deprivation," a private investigator commissioned by Timol's […]

28 July 2017

Local

Second sitting of Ahmed Timol death inquiry to resume

The second sitting of the inquest looking into anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol’s death at John Vorster Square in 1971 resumes on Monday. Timol’s death was ruled a suicide in 1972, however a private investigation launched by Timol's family uncovered new evidence which it presented to the NPA, asking for the inquest to be re-opened. The NPA agreed. The Roodepoort teacher's loved ones have always maintained that they did not believe […]

24 July 2017

Opinions

The inquest of Ahmed Timol’s death in detention, seeking the final truth

By Shafiq Morton THE re-opening of the inquest into the causes of Ahmed Timol’s death in detention, 45 years after the fact, is most certainly a long-awaited constitutional triumph. However, with it comes tremendous pain, and the nightmares of an era when security policemen were licensed killers. For me, it is a distressing story to write – as like so many – these shadowy men were once an integral, and […]

14 July 2017

Local

Mabelane family hopes Ahmed Timol death inquest will open doors

"Brother Lesh, inform mum and my other brothers that the police are going to push me from the 10th floor and I am bidding you goodbye, forever." These were the words written on the white lining of Matthews Mabelane’s dark green and bloodied Lee branded trousers. Fearing for his life, he had written the message for his family while he was in detention at John Vorster Square in 1977. Like […]

13 July 2017

Ahmed Timol

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