Court rejects 1970 inquest results on death of Imam Abdullah Haron

10 October 2023

The National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the findings of the High Court of South Africa: Western Cape Division as it sets aside the findings of an inquest into the death Imam Abdul Haron.

In the findings of the re-opened inquest, the court found that the death of Imam Abdullah Haron was caused by the cumulative effect of injuries under torture, in particular a combination of severe systematic psychological stresses, including crush injury syndrome precipitated by complications of bunt soft tissue injury, with the possibility of a pre-existing coronary artery disease as a contributing factor.

The court also held the then Security Branch of SAP members responsible for the acts and omissions leading directly to his death. It held Lieutenant Colonel Carel Johannes Freysen Pienaar, Major Dirk Kotze Genis, Major Kotze, Captain, Ebanis Jogiemus Johannes Geldenhuys, Sergeant Johannes Petrus Francois ‘Spyker’ van Wyk and Sergent Andries van Wyk as responsible for Imam Haron’s death.

The court ordered the Registrar of the Court to submit the record to the officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Western Cape, without delay. It referred the role played by Johannes Hendrik Hanekom Burger, Sergeant Petrus Jacobus Rademeyer, Captain Louis Malan Sergeant Smit, and Prosecutor JS van Graan to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Western Cape, for a decision.

Judge Daniel Thulare said the conduct of Dr Viviers, Dr Gosling, Dr Kosseaw and Dr Schwar deserve a serious rebuke from the court and referred it to the South African Medical and Dental Council for its attention. Today’s judgment is a culmination of a re-opened inquest after there was dissatisfaction with the results of a 1970 inquest following the death of Imam Haron in the cells of Maitland Police Station.

The NPA was requested to re-open the inquest on 01 September 2021. It approached the Minister of Justice and successfully applied for the re-opening of the inquest in March 2022. A presiding officer was appointed on 30 May 2022, and proceedings in terms of Section 17A of the Inquest Act 58 of 1959 commenced on November 2022.

The re-opened inquest heard that Imam Haron was arrested on 28 May 1969, in terms of Section 6(1) of the Act on Terrorism, 1967 and detained in Cape Town. On 11 August 1969, he was transferred to Maitland Police Station where he was detained until his death on 27 September 1969. Police believed that he had instruction to recruit students who wanted to study abroad, and young Muslims who wanted to go to Mecca and arrange travel amenities and facilities for terrorist training in China.

They also believed that he was involved in continuing activities of the banned Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the recruitment of its members, and he received thousands of rands from abroad through different local banks for unlawful use, contravened Exchange Control Regulations by taking out thousands of rands out of the country through unlawful means amongst others for political emigrants outside the country. They believed that he visited terrorist headquarters in Cairo and contacted members of the PAC movement, held discussions overseas with known terrorists received their instructions and continuously made secret contact with terrorists outside the country.

Following his arrest, he spent 123 days in detention which comprised 75 nights at Caledon Square Police Station and 45 nights at Maitland Police Station except for the two nights between 17 and 19 September 1969, where his whereabouts were unknown. He spent about four months in solitary confinement and was tortured most of the time while in detention. During the hearing, State Adv Lifa Matyobeni and Adv Deidre Julius argued that Genis and Spyker, members of the notorious Special Branch, conducted most of the interrogations, which generally started at 8h00, with a lunch break at 13h00 and then continued until 16h30. Sometimes interrogations would continue for longer, even until the early morning (midnight).

During his detention, he complained of chest pain, stomach pains, broken ribs, and bruises on his body. The interrogators told the inquest that he fell off the stairs at the Caledon Police Station. They denied being responsible for his fall and claimed he fell on his back bruising his buttocks.

Senior State Pathologist and Head of Pathology Services at the state pathology laboratory in Cape Town, Dr Theodor Gottfried Schwar, conducted a postmortem examination on 28 September 1969, after the body was identified to him by Col Pienaar and Warrant Officer Blake at the Salt River Mortuary. He later compiled a postmortem report. The postmortem examination was conducted in the presence of Dr E Slobedman, a private pathologist from Cape Town. He concluded the cause of death was myocardial ischemia which was the decreased blood flow to the heart muscle due to narrowing coronary absorption.

Today this finding was rejected, and the Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Nicolette Bell, has welcomed the judgment which comes as a result of the NPA’s commitment to pursuing priority TRC cases. The NPA will implement the required measures to ensure accountability for TRC matters, despite the regrettable delays stemming from past inaction.

The NPA remains committed to ensuring accountability for TRC crimes, and justice for victims and their families , as they search for answers to what happened to their loved ones. Over the last couple of years, the NPA, working together with the DPCI, has focused on enhancing capacity and streamlining processes to ensure effective handling of TRC cases and reopening and pursuing priority cases. Sixteen prosecutors and 39 DPCI investigators have been appointed within the various divisions to deal exclusively with TRC matters, to work with families, and to investigate cases, inter alia, of murder, torture, and disappearances.

Presently, there are 135 matters under investigation. In some cases, prosecutions have begun. In others, inquests are being held or even re-held to establish the circumstances of, and responsibility for, these deaths. The effluxion of time poses many challenges in the investigation of these matters. But time is not on our side, and we must continue to strive for justice.

Issued by Eric Ntabazalila, National Prosecuting Authority, Regional Communications Manager, Western Cape, 10 October 2023