Delight as 'justice seems to be done' in Caiphus Nyoka murder case

A close friend of Caiphus Nyoka, the student activist who was killed by security branch police in 1987, recalled how their friendship and activism was abruptly cut off.

Speaking outside Nyoka’s home in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, during the court officials' inspection in loco, Vuyani Marasela said: “I am delighted that justice seems to be done after 37 years. We have been waiting for this to happen. At some stage we lost hope because even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) couldn't help us.

“These people couldn't reveal anything at the TRC. They proclaim Caiphus as if he was a terrorist and they were defending themselves.”

Marasela recalled how he met Nyoka in 1984 while he was with a group of other students.

At the time he started singing struggle songs and from there they formed a strong bond and became best friends and went on to lead the Student Representative Council at Mabuya Secondary School. Their friendship was cut short when Nyoka was killed in August 1987 by security branch police who raided his home in the early hours of August 24 that year.

“I used to sleep here and he used to sleep at my place and we were on the run together from police harassment. We were detained together most of the time.”

He said when Nyoka was SRC president at the school he was the secretary.

He recalled that on the day of the incident he had visited his wife for the weekend.

He didn't know about the incident until Monday morning when one of the students told him they were looking for him at the school.

“I asked why are you here? He said, 'hey it's terrible, they are looking for you at school. Your friend has been killed and two of your friends are detained',” said Marasela.

He went to the school and they told him they were worried about his whereabouts because his friend was killed.

“I went to Caiphus' home. When I got here the room was terrible. It was blood all over the place. I went home and when I got there, they said the police were here yesterday and you must pack your bags and run away. I did that and went to my [wife's] place.

“It was terrible and it was shocking for us because I didn't expect that to happen to a student being brutally killed like that, and you can imagine you don't know what will happen to you,” he said.

“Once anything happened at Daveyton they would look [for] us, even though we are innocent and we don't know what happened. They would look for us and we ran to several townships around the East Rand,” he said.

The three former police officers, Leon Louis van den Berg, Abram Engelbrecht and Pieter Stander, pleaded not guilty to the murder.

The state's case is they acted in the furtherance of common purpose in the commission of murder.

This is one of the cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority by the TRC.

At the time of his murder, Nyoka was a student activist in Daveyton and a member of the Congress of South African Students.

Last week, Johan Marais, 65, who was stationed at Unit 6 in Dunnottar in Ekurhuleni, pleaded guilty to killing Nyoka.

Nyoka's neighbour, who also went to school with him, Victor Shabangu, described Nyoka as a good person.

The inspection in loco was done to corroborate the evidence of a witness who had already testified at the Pretoria high court, sitting in the Benoni magistrate's court.

The matter is continuing in the high court on Wednesday.

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