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.
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His case, previously ruled as justified during an inquest, resurfaced in 2019 when new evidence allegedly implicating state operatives came to light.
Following this revelation, the DPCI launched an investigation, which led to the arrest of four former police officers: Johan Marais, Louis van den Berg, Abraham Engelbrecht, and Pieter Egbert Stander.
The four were members of the Benoni Security Branch and Unit 6 Dunnottar Reaction Unit at the time of Nyoka’s death, reports News24.
Marais, Van den Berg, Engelbrecht and Stander are accused of conspiring to murder Nyoka, as well as additional charges of murder and obstruction of justice.
According to a statement released by the South African Police Service (SAPS), Stander was apprehended in April upon arrival at OR Tambo International Airport and has since appeared in Benoni Magistrates Court, where travel restrictions were imposed and his passport and visa confiscated.
On 12 November, Marais, now 65, pleaded guilty to Nyoka’s murder at the Pretoria High Court. Marais admitted in his plea statement that he was part of a planned operation to kill Nyoka due to his activism against apartheid policies.
Marais alleged that Engelbrecht, a high-ranking officer of the Security Branch, had ordered him to ‘take out’ Nyoka, whom they viewed as a threat to the government, as reported by News24.
The Pretoria High Court accepted Marais’ plea, convicting him of Nyoka’s murder. The court has scheduled sentencing for January 27, 2025 and proceedings against the remaining three accused are set to begin on November 18 at the Gauteng High Court, sitting in Benoni.
Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, National Head of the DPCI, praised the progress in bringing apartheid-era crimes to justice.
‘The DPCI reaffirms its unwavering commitment to ensuring justice for all victims of apartheid-era crimes,’ said Lebeya in a press statement. ‘These crimes will not be left unresolved. We owe it to the victims and their families to pursue justice, no matter how much time has passed.’
Nyoka’s case was initially closed after an inquest in 1989, where police claimed self-defense, saying Nyoka posed a threat during the confrontation.
However, a renewed investigation began after Marais reportedly confessed to Nyoka’s murder in 2019, prompting the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and legal firm Webber Wentzel to assist the Nyoka family in pressuring authorities to reopen the case.
The DPCI’s investigation, bolstered by new testimony and Marais’ confession, now seeks to address unresolved crimes from the apartheid era, which, according to FHR, continue to carry ‘complexities and challenges’ in prosecution due to their historical nature.
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