JAUNDICED EYE
Reputedly, the mills of the gods grind slowly but exceedingly fine. When the perpetrators of wrongs are police officers, it can seem that they simply grind to a halt.
This week, almost a half century after the events under scrutiny took place, a South African inquest court re-examined the supposed suicide of political activist Ahmed Timol, while held at John Vorster Square police station in Johannesburg. His was one of 73 documented deaths, all inflicted with impunity, in police detention over the period 1963-1990.
Coincidentally also this week, almost 30 years after Britain’s Hillsborough disaster in which 96 football fans died, criminal charges were brought against six people for what happened there. It includes two senior police officers – the officer in command on the day and a knighted former chief constable.
In South Africa, the judicial process now underway is largely symbolic. The possibilities of legal retribution are diluted by the passage of time and the fact that Timol died while in the custody of a diabolical, secretive security police. In any case, only thee of the officers implicated are still alive.
In Britain, the shorter period and the mass of evidence available, make some form of punishment more likely. The charges against the officers range from misconduct while in public office to multiple charges of manslaughter.