Former apartheid cop handed 15 years for killing Caiphus Nyoka

The 66-year-old appeared before the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday morning.

Nyoka was a 23-year-old matric pupil when he was killed in a hail of bullets during a raid at his parents’ Daveyton home, on the East Rand.

He was the leader of the student movement, the Congress of the South African Students (Cosas).

Testifying on behalf of the state, Nyoka’s sister Alegra said her parents died before they could get answers for the brutal killing of their son.

In delivering the sentence, Judge Papi Mosopa recounted her testimony: “After the death of the deceased, his body was taken without them being informed where his body was taken to. They only saw by the pool of blood on the bed he was sleeping on in the morning, at approximately 5 or 6 [am].”

In his arguments, Marais told the court that he acted on instructions and that Nyoka was considered a “dangerous terrorist” for his activism against the apartheid regime.

He pleaded guilty to the crime. However, his co-accused, Louis van den Berg and Abraham Engelbrecht, maintain their innocence.

Mosopa said the sentence is intended to serve the purpose of deterrence and retribution.

“In the clinical psychologist report, you indicated that you want to write a book about your life after completion of your trial matter, and the time has now arrived. You will use the time to write the book and detail your involvement in the killing of the deceased.”

“Also use your time and the book to educate South Africans, who are still living in the racist past, to embrace democracy and learn to live side-by-side with their fellow countrymen. It’s unfortunate that the political heads of your time are not standing trial today, who are responsible for promulgating draconian and racist laws that led you to behave in the manner that you did 37 years ago.”

Mosopa told Marais that he would help the state in its case against his co-accused.

“I hope you will use the opportunity to reflect, and hopefully you will change your mind and testify on behalf of the state in the matter pertaining to your former colleagues.”

Nyoka’s case was presented before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997.

In April, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced he was in the process of establishing a commission of inquiry to establish where measures were made to prevent the investigation or prosecution of apartheid era crimes.

This followed a High Court application by the families and survivors of apartheid atrocities seeking constitutional damages for the government’s failure to investigate and prosecute apartheid-era political crimes.

Nyoka’s family is among those represented.

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