Former policeman pleads guilty to murder of activist in 1987 TRC case

The Pretoria high court on Tuesday found a former section leader of the South African Police’s reaction unit guilty of murdering student activist Caiphus Nyoka in the 1980s.

Johan Marais, 65, who was stationed at Unit 6 in Dunnottar in Ekurhuleni, pleaded guilty to killing Nyoka in 1987. 

This is one of the cases that was referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At the time of his murder in 1987, Nyoka was a student activist in Daveyton and a member of the Congress of South African Students.

He was also the South African Youth Congress organiser of the Transvaal Student Congress in the East Rand as well as president of the student representative council at Mabuya Secondary School.

“He was opposed to the apartheid policies, which he used to challenge publicly,” NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said. 

She said on the evening of August 23 1987, Marais and members of the security branch and other units within the SAP met to discuss a plan to kill Nyoka.

A plan to raid his home was devised under the then commanding officer Maj Leon Louis van den Berg, who is also charged separately.

“In the early hours of August 24 1987, about 2.30am, Marais, together with Sgt Pieter Stander, Sgt Abram Hercules Engelbrecht and other members of the reaction unit who are also charged separately, arrived at Nyoka’s homestead and stormed his room.

“They found him with three of his friends sleeping. After identifying him, they removed the friends from the room and thereafter proceeded to shoot him nine times. He died on the scene.” 

After the guilty plea was read into the record on Tuesday, Marais was released on R5,000 bail, with conditions that he should not interfere with state witnesses and that he should not communicate with the other three co-accused.

He was ordered not to leave Springs without informing the investigating officer and told to hand in his passport to the investigating officer. 

The matter was postponed until January 27 2025 for a psychological report. 

The trial against the three other accused in the matter will start in the Pretoria high court, sitting in Benoni, on November 18 until December 6. 

“The NPA welcomes this conviction which reflects the commitment to ensuring accountability for atrocious crimes that were referred to the NPA by the TRC,” Mahanjana said. 

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