Family wants answers on 40th Anniversary of Timol’s death

“However painful the experience, the wounds of the past must not be allowed to fester. They must be opened. They must be cleansed. And balm must be poured on them so they can heal. This is not to be obsessed with the past. It is to take care that the past is properly dealt with for the sake of the future.

In our case, dealing with the past means knowing what happened. Who ordered that this person should be killed? Why did this gross violation of human rights take place? We also need to know about the past so that we can renew our resolve and commitment that never again will such violations take place. We need to know about the past in order to establish a culture of respect for human rights. It is only by accounting for the past that we can become accountable for the future.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in the Foreword to the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Report’, 1998.

Dead activists: call to disclose hidden history

Imtiaz Cajee, nephew of anti-apartheid martyr Ahmed Timol, is hopeful the government will enact legislation to make it easier to uncover the truth about the past.

Speaking on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Timol’s death today, he said many families and friends of activists killed in the line of duty were still struggling decades later to establish the truth about how they died.

“A state inquest found Timol had committed suicide (while in security police custody) by plunging to his death at the notorious security police torture chamber, John Vorster Square police station, in Joburg. But the inquest failed to explain the gruesome marks and bruises covering the body,” said Cajee. “Timol’s death has never been resolved.”

When Timol lost his life, aged 29, his death provoked a worldwide outcry. He had taught at Roodepoort Indian High School and was active in the politico-military underground locally and in the UK.

After many years of researching and gathering information about the lives of activists during apartheid, Cajee published a book titled Timol, A Quest for Justice, and is working on a second edition, titled Timol, A Quest for Truth.

Timol was the 22nd detainee to die. “Even though these comrades died so many years ago, families still don’t have closure, and it cannot come until the truth about their deaths is revealed,” he said.

“It is our hope that legislation, when eventually enacted, will complement the Promotion of Access to Information Act (2000) in providing the instruments to access documentation held by the National Archives and Records Services of SA, the police and the State Security Agency.”

The pain of not knowing what had happened felt like “a pebble in my shoe”.

“We need to ensure future generations know how heroes sacrificed their lives so that we are able to live in a democratic South Africa. It is because of these comrades that we are able to vote. ”

Cajee said there was no reason for the government to withhold records containing valuable information about late activists. “The truth has to be told and the onus is on the government. In fact, on the very same people who fought side by side to put an end to apartheid who are in government today.”

Source: The Star as published on the Independent Online website

Family wants answers on 40th anniversary of Timol’s death: Statement on behalf of Mr Imtiaz Cajee, nephew of Ahmed Timol and author of the book Timol: A Quest for Justice

In 2009 President Jacob Zuma posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli to Ahmed Timol for his “excellent contribution and selfless sacrifice” in the anti-apartheid struggle. But the truth remains elusive around the death in police detention on 27 October 1971 of this 29-year-old school teacher.

Five days after his arrest at a police roadblock on 22 October 1971, Timol was found dead. An inquest found that he had jumped to his death from the 10th floor of the infamous John Vorster Square Police Station, despite the numerous gruesome marks and bruises found on his body. He became the 22nd person to have died in police detention in South Africa.

More than 40 years later his family is still searching for answers explaining what happened to this young activist.

His nephew Imtiaz Cajee who, in 2005, published a book Timol: A Quest for Justice is determined to someday uncover the detail surrounding his uncle’s untimely death.

He believes there is sufficient evidence to indicate that his uncle’s activities were monitored by the South African Police’s Security Branch while he trained at the Teacher’s Training College and it is likely that they also followed his years from 1960 to 1966 as a teacher at the Roodepoort Indian High School

Timol’s stay in London with banned activists was known to the South African Police’s then notorious Security Branch and this information was shared with British Intelligence; as was his political training, with former President Thabo Mbeki at Lenin University in Moscow in 1969. Reports indicate that the Lenin University was infiltrated by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and that they shared information with both British and South African intelligence bodies.

South Africa’s Security Branch and the Bureau of State Security (BOSS) knew that after his return home in February 1970, Timol helped to set up underground structures for the banned Communist Party. His communication with his handlers in London through secret coded text messages was intercepted, indicating that his operation had been compromised.

The police claimed that he was arrested at a “routine” police roadblock; however, evidence shows that an order for his arrest had been granted by the Commissioner of Police.

Cajee believes there are community members who are aware of what really happened to his uncle. He also hopes that better access to archival evidence will enable him and others to find official information relating to the death of his uncle and many other activists.

When he died, the overwhelming majority of South Africans poured their hearts out to the Timol family. Inter-denominational prayer meetings were held; public gatherings blamed the apartheid regime and some ordinary white South Africans wrote to the media asking the apartheid government to account for his death. Students and lecturers protested at various educational institutions; and internationally, the United Nations, the National Union of Students (NUS) of the United Kingdom, the North London Association of the National Union of Teachers and Amnesty International all condemned the apartheid regime for its role.

Timol’s death, between the end of the Rivonia Trial in 1964, which saw Nelson Mandela and seven of his comrades jailed for life and the 1976 Soweto Uprising, became an important milestone in the history of the liberation struggle. The apartheid regime believed it had crushed all opposition to the state, but activists like Timol kept up the struggle. His death served as an inspiration to many other activists to continue the fight for democracy in South Africa.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearing in April 1996 failed to uncover new information about Timol’s death. It served only as an instrument for his mother, Hawa to relive her tragic ordeal through her testimony.

On the 29 March 1999 President Nelson Mandela spoke at the renaming of the Azaadville Secondary School, as the Ahmed Timol Secondary School. He said: “Timol was a brave young man who believed in freedom and justice, and who fought for non-racialism and democracy.”

Source: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory website

Leave a comment