Lessons for the future from historic Timol ruling

Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol did not commit suicide, but was pushed to his death, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ruled last week, bringing to a close a more than four-decade struggle by his family and activists to prove his murder. TimesLIVE notes the hearing to review the 1971 inquest which corroborated security branch officers' claims that Timol had jumped, is the first of its kind in SA – and it presented valuable lessons for the country's democracy, said Judge Billy Mothle. The Timol family has steadfastly maintained he had not taken his life as claimed by apartheid security branch officers, but had been pushed or forced to jump from the 10th floor of police headquarters in John Vorster Square in October 1971. Mothle, reading a summary of a 129-page judgment, said Timol had been murdered by security branch officers after being severely tortured while in detention for five days. Evidence by forensic pathologist Dr Shakeera Holland showed extensive injuries suffered by Timol, including a fractured skill, which she said would have not made it possible for him to move around and jump out a window. Timol, she said, would have been barely alive when he fell. Meanwhile, the Mail & Guardian reports that the judge called for the prosecution of security branch officer Joao Rodrigues, who admitted helping in covering up the circumstances of Timol's death, as an accessory to murder. Mothle also praised Timol's nephew Imtiaz Cajee for his efforts in getting the case reopened, saying it was a fine example of how citizens should assert their constitutional rights. Activists, including anti-apartheid lawyer George Bizos, welcomed the ruling.