…the trial of former security police officer Jan Roderigues, who was allegedly involved in the murder of activist Ahmed Timol in 1971, had opened up his old wounds. “I can no longer look over my shoulder at the problems in my past,” added Johan Maree.
City Press: 5 October 2019 by Dawie Boonzaier
JOHAN MAREE STATEMENT
…I did unlawfully and intentionally kill Caiphus Nyoka, an adult male person by shooting him with a firearm in killing the deceased…
TRC FINAL REPORT:
PAGE NUMBER (ORIGINAL) 633 PARAGRAPH NUMBERS 382 to 388 VOLUME 3 CHAPTER 6 SUBSECTION 54
382 On 23 August 1987, Mr Caiphus Nyoka [JB00285/01ERKWA], a student activist from Daveyton, was killed in an alleged shoot-out with police during a raid on his room in the backyard of his parents’ home. He sustained approximately ten gunshot wounds.
383 A number of policemen involved in the incident which led to the death of Mr Nyoka, and several of his relatives and friends made submissions to the Commission.
384 Nyoka was allegedly linked to eight hand grenades and six limpet mines found on two men on 23 August 1987. The men told the police that they had received the contents of the bag from him, and that they were supposed to return to his home that night. The two men, Mr Daniel Moseng and Mr Moses Mahlangu, were taken to Daveyton police station and the bag was given to Sergeant Engelbrecht of the Security Branch.
385 Arrangements were made to arrest Nyoka. Engelbrecht, who knew Nyoka, was to identify and arrest him with the help of Sergeants Stander and Marais. Any other people who might be in the room were to be removed, as the police did not know how Nyoka would react.
386 When the group of police officers including Marais, Engelbrecht, Stander and two others arrived at the house, they knocked and ordered the occupants to open the door. Getting no reaction, they kicked the door in. Inside, Engelbrecht used his flashlight to identify Nyoka. He saw three other men and took them outside immediately. He heard Marais ordering Nyoka to keep still. The next moment he heard shots and ordered the three men to lie down on the ground. Engelbrecht turned on the light in the room and found Nyoka, who was fatally wounded, holding a knife in his left hand. Marais said that Nyoka had reached under the bed and grabbed something which shone and looked like a weapon. Marais and Stander had then simultaneously shot at him.
387 The three men outside were arrested and taken to Benoni police station for questioning. They were Mr Excellent Mthemba, Mr Exodus Nyakane and Mr Elson Mnyakeni. According to these three young men, they had attended a funeral in Daveyton with Nyoka and had gone to a shebeen together afterwards. At the end of the evening Nyoka said they could all sleep in his room. They talked about the funeral and then went to sleep until the police kicked down the door.
388 At the police station, the young men were interrogated and tortured. Mr Nyakane heard someone screaming while he was left in an office in the Daveyton police station. Later, he was locked in a locker and smelled tear gas fumes. He was taken to another office and his face was covered with a cloth causing him breathing difficulties. He was given electric shocks on both hands. As the shocks continued, the cloth was tightened. He was hit in the face. An object was then put in his mouth and he was shocked again. He fell to the floor still handcuffed to the chair. During the torture, he was questioned about whether he knew two other men, which he denied. He was later taken back to the previous room and locked in a locker again. He peeped through the door and witnessed two other people being locked inside lockers. He also heard more screams. He was later taken back to Daveyton and released.
THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT ON 23 AUGUST 1987, MR CAIPHUS NYOKA, A YOUNG ACTIVIST FROM DAVEYTON, AND THREE OF HIS COMRADES WERE SLEEPING AT HIS HOME IN DAVEYTON. THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT MEMBERS OF THE BENONI SECURITY BRANCH ENTERED THE ROOM, TOOK THE THREE COMRADES OUT INTO THE YARD AND THEN EXECUTED MR NYOKA IN COLD BLOOD. THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE THREE OTHER MEN, MR EXCELLENT MTHEMBA, MR EXODUS NYAKANE AND MR ELSON MNYAKENI, WERE TAKEN TO THE BENONI HEADQUARTERS OF THE SECURITY BRANCH AND TORTURED.
THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE KILLING OF MR CAIPHUS NYOKA BY MEMBERS OF THE BENONI SECURITY BRANCH CONSTITUTES A GROSS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, AND HOLDS THE MINISTER OF LAW AND ORDER, THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND THE HEAD OF THE FORMER STATE RESPONSIBLE. THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE TORTURE OF THE THREE MEN NAMED ABOVE CONSTITUTES A GROSS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, AND HOLDS THE BENONI SECURITY BRANCH, THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND THE MINISTER OF LAW AND ORDER RESPONSIBLE.
MEDIA ARTICLES:
Prosecution of apartheid atrocities reinforces public trust in justice system – HSF
Former Apartheid police officer convicted for the murder of Caiphus Nyoka
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has secured a conviction related to a matter of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
This after the Pretoria High Court found former Apartheid police officer Johan Marais guilty of the murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka.
Marais had pleaded guilty to the murder.
“After the guilty plea was read into the record, Marais was released on R5000 bail, with conditions that he should not interfere with state witnesses and that he should not communicate with the other three co-accused.
“He was also ordered not to leave the jurisdiction of Springs without informing the investigating officer, and he should hand in his passport to the investigating officer and not apply for a new one.
“The matter was postponed to 27 January 2025 for a psychological report. The trial against the three other accused in the matter will start at the Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni on 18 November until 06 December 2024,” the NPA said in a statement.
Nyoka was killed for his activism against Apartheid policies in 1987.
Ex-security Branch Member Pleads Guilty in Student Activist’s 1987 Killing
Published by on
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) recently announced significant developments in the decades-old case involving the murder of East Rand student activist Caiphus Nyoka.
Nyoka, a 23-year-old member of the Congress of South African Students, was fatally shot in the early hours of August 24, 1987, at his home in Daveyton, Gauteng.
https://www.capetownetc.com/news/apartheid-police-members-in-court-for-1987-student-activist-murder/
JOHAN MARAIS PLEADS GUILTY IN CAIPHUS NYOKA MURDER CASE; TRIAL OF CO-ACCUSED SET TO BEGIN ON 18 NOVEMBER 2024
Press statement issued by the Foundation for Human Rights and the Webber Wentzel
Johan Marais, one of the four former police officers accused of the 1987 murder of anti-apartheid activist Caiphus Nyoka, pleaded guilty to the murder charge in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, 12 November 2024. The court convicted Marais on the basis of his guilty plea and postponed the proceedings to 27 January 2025 for sentencing.
The murder trial of the three remaining co-accused—Leon Louis Van Den Berg, Abram Hercules Engelbrecht, and Pieter Stander—is scheduled to begin on 18 November 2024 at the Gauteng High Court, sitting in the Benoni Magistrates’ Court, and is expected to conclude by 6 December 2024.
The Nyoka family, the Foundation for Human Rights, and Webber Wentzel welcome the guilty plea, acknowledging the vital roles played by the DPCI and the NPA in advancing the case.
Marais’s conviction represents an invaluable measure of justice and closure for the Nyoka family, who hope that the forthcoming trial of the remaining accused will proceed without delay. End/
Former apartheid police officer pleads guilty to 1987 execution of student activist Caiphus Nyoka
12 Nov- In August 1987, a student activist from the East Rand, Caiphus Nyoka, was shot and killed by apartheid police.
- An inquest at the time found the police acted in self-defence.
- However, on Tuesday, one of the triggermen pleaded guilty to murdering Nyoka after allegedly being instructed to by a Security Branch member.
More than 37 years after student activist Caiphus Nyoka was executed, a former apartheid-era police officer, Johan Marais, has pleaded guilty to his murder.
Marais, who is now 65 years old, appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to one count of murder.
In his plea, Marais admitted to being one of the men who pulled the trigger, killing Nyoka during the early hours of 24 August 1987 in the East Rand, Gauteng.
Marais said on the evening of 23 August 1987, he was summoned via radio to the Daveyton police station. At the police station, a briefing was held about a joint operation with the Benoni Security Branch to arrest Nyoka.
Nyoka, who was 23 years old at the time, was a student activist and member of the Congress of South African Students.
In his plea, Marais said: “The deceased was opposed to the apartheid government, and he frequently challenged the apartheid regime and its discriminatory policies in public. His involvement in educational and local politics resulted in him being identified as a threat to the apartheid government.”
- Fellow riot unit member Sergeant Pieter Stander.
- Commander of the Benoni Security Branch Major Leon van den Berg.
- Benoni Security Branch member Sergeant Abram Engelbrecht.
- Benoni Security Branch member Sergeant Venter.
“The planning was led by the Security Branch, in particular, Engelbrecht, who knew the deceased and his family very well due to the fact that the deceased was on the radar of the Security Branch,” Marais said.
‘Take him out’
Marais said at about 02:30 on 24 August, the officers involved in planning the operation, as well as several other members of the Security Branch, the reaction unit, and Daveyton Municipal Police, left the police station to execute the plan.
After arriving at the house in Lemba Street, Marais said he, Engelbrecht and Stander set off to the deceased’s room while the other police officers isolated the residence.
“Moments before Engelbrecht, Stander and myself penetrated the room, Engelbrecht instructed me to take the deceased out when we are alone in the room with the deceased. I understood this as an instruction that the deceased had to be killed.”
After entering the room, Marais said the deceased was lying on the bed with another man on the right-hand side of the room.
Two men also lay on a second bed on the left-hand side.
After Engelbrecht allegedly identified the deceased and removed the other three men from the room, Marais said he and Stander opened fire on the deceased.
Marais said:
He added Nyoka did not pose a threat when he shot him.
“The deceased was shot with the intention to kill him as per the planning and the instruction of Engelbrecht. I knew at the time that the intentional killing of the deceased was an illegal act.
“The deceased did not have any weapons in his possession at the time he was murdered.”
Judge Mokhine Mosopa accepted Marais’ plea and found him guilty.
The case was postponed to 27 January 2025 for a psychological report for sentencing purposes.
Marais was granted bail of R5 000.
Meanwhile, Marais’ co-accused – Van Den Berg, Engelbrecht and Stander – are expected to stand trial in the Gauteng High Court, sitting in Benoni, on 18 November.
Inquest
Following the shooting, an inquest was held between 1988 and 1989 in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court.
According to a Weekly Mail report at the time, at the inquest, Marais said he fired shots at Nyoka because he had seen something in his left hand, which he thought was a knife.
Stander’s version before the inquest was similar.
He reportedly told the court he thought he saw a “glint” in Nyoka’s left hand, which he suspected was a hand grenade or firearm.
The magistrate who presided over the inquest, JP Myburgh, found the police had acted in self-defence.
According to the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and Webber Wentzel, the case re-emerged in 2019 when Marais reportedly confessed to a journalist from Rapport he had murdered Nyoka.
A statement by FHR and Webber Wentzel read:
“It took the NPA three years to bring formal charges against the three accused, highlighting the complexities and challenges of prosecuting apartheid-era crimes.”
The odd message on the station blackboard
Three youths who were metres away from Daveyton student leader Caiphus Nyoka when he was shot dead this week have charged that shortly after the killing a white policeman wrote “999 Lemba Street – Caiphus Nyoka executed – Hands of Death” on a police station blackboard.
The former executive member of the Transvaal Students Congress was killed in the early hours of Monday morning, the youths said, after shots were fired in the back room of his parents’ house. The three youths are part-time matric student Exodus Gugulethu Nyakane, 21, of Wattville; and Excellent Mthembu, 18; and Elson Mnyakeni, 20, who attend Bonginhlanhla secondary school in Kwandebele. They had come to Daveyton to attend a funeral.
Their accommodation at the Nyoka house had been arranged by the family of the deceased.
The three toldWeekly Mailthat four white members of the SA Police arrived at the Nyoka home early Monday morning in the company of black council policemen. The youths said police kicked open the door of the room they were sharing with Caiphus. The white policemen entered the room, brandishing torches, asking which one was Nyoka. Nyoka identified himself.
According to the youths, police then ordered them to leave the room immediately. Once outside, close to the room, they were told to lie face down on the ground. Clad only in their underpants, the three obeyed. They said they “more than two shots” being fired in the room in which Nyoka had remained behind with the policemen. The police then threw their clothes out of the room, they said, ordering them to dress quickly. They said two of them were handcuffed to each other and all three were escorted at gunpoint to a white 10-seater Toyota “Zola Budd” outside the house.
The three said they were driven to Daveyton police station in the company of white and black policemen. They said they were taken to an office in an outbuilding behind the main police station building. Fifteen minutes later, they said, they saw a white policeman write on the green black- board. When he finished, he told the three to read what he had written: “999 Lemba Street – Caiphus Nyoka executed – Hands of Death”.
The three described the policeman as being “of small build, dressed in jeans, a navy lumber jacket and a balaclava, folded up above his eyes. Caiphus’ father, Abednigo Moses Nyoka, 54, confirmed much of the youths’ story this week. He said police arrived at the house at about 2.30 am on Monday; that he heard them knocking violently at the door of the bedroom and then heard the door being kicked. He said he next heard one of the policemen shouting,”Kaptein, hier is by” (Here he is, Captain). The police then came to the main house and knocked at the front door, he said, while another knocked at the kitchen door.
“As I opened the kitchen door, a white policeman, dressed in uniform, pointed a rifle at me,” he said. The policeman entered the house and looked around in all rooms, he said, then “woke my younger son up, Titus, and told him to lie down.” He said he went to Caiphus’ bedroom and found his three young guests lying face down on the ground. “Just as one of the boys was beginning to explain what had happened, I was ordered back to the house,” he said. “A white policeman returned to the main house and asked us to come out and identify the three youths,” he said.
“As my daughter, Magdeline, 20, and I were walking out of the house, the policeman said only one of us should come out.” “Magdeline then went outside to identify the three,” he added. He said he saw the police taking the three away to a white kombi.
At about 4.30am, he said, a white mortuary vehicle arrived. Four council police pulled a stretcher from the vehicle, he said, and took it to the back room. “A short while later they returned with the naked body of my son, lying face up,” he said.
WhenWeekly Mailvisited the Nyoka home this week there were two bullet shells in the room and clothes relatives said were worn by Caiphus the night of his death were also there. According to Lt Olivier of the SA Police press liaison division, the matter is under investigation and so the SAP cannot comment on the allegations made by the three youths and the father of the deceased. “Should the four have any complaints against the police, they are free to submit such complaints to the nearest police station,” he said.
Earlier this week, the SAP confirmed the death “during follow-up operations, after the arrest of two suspects who were found carrying a number of mini-limpet mines and hand grenades of foreign origin”.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
https://mg.co.za/article/1987-08-28-00-the-odd-message-on-the-station-blackboard
