Ahmed Timol's nephew opposes former apartheid cop's appeal bid
8 July 2019
The nephew of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, Imtiaz Patel Cajee, has joined the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and two other government departments in opposing the leave to appeal application of former apartheid police officer, Joao Roderigues.
Cajee posted on Twitter that he had joined the departments of justice and correctional services and police in the application.
Last month, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg unanimously dismissed Roderigues' application for a permanent stay of his prosecution. But Roderigues wants to appeal and filed an application for leave to appeal.
His legal team listed 11 reasons why they believed the High Court had misdirected itself. He is accused of involvement in Timol's murder in 1971. At the time of his death, Timol was in custody.
Officers who interrogated him, including Roderigues, claimed that he threw himself out of a window from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square, now the Johannesburg Central police station.
A 1972 inquest found that Timol had committed suicide, however, after the family disputed this, it was reopened in 2017 and it was found that he had been murdered.
Timol's family also called for justice for many other activists who died at the hands of apartheid-era police officers.
Timol's younger brother, Mohammed Timol, earlier said his family had been vindicated and said they did not want to see Roderigues jailed. Instead, they want him to disclose the truth and facts about what happened.
The Imam Haron Foundation has also appealed to Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola and related structures that they open "all the previous apartheid-managed inquests and all unresolved cases".
