Sister of student activist killed in 1987 tells of constant police raids

The elder sister of Caiphus Nyoka, who was murdered in August 1987, described him as “an altruistic person” who would share his last morsel with others. 

The woman, whom the court ordered should not be named, was the first witness to testify in a murder trial at the Pretoria high court sitting in Benoni magistrate's court on Tuesday. 

She took the stand after apartheid-era police pleaded not guilty to murdering East Rand student activist Nyoka. 

The trio, Leon Louis van den Berg, Abram Engelbrecht and Pieter Stander, pleaded not guilty to the murder. The state's case is that they acted in the furtherance of a common purpose in the commission of murder. 

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 (Cosas).

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

The sister said her brother's political activities started when he became a member of Cosas in 1984. She said he was an individual who wanted to see equality among people and was not happy with the apartheid regime. 

She said he loved people more than he loved himself.

“He was also not satisfied with Bantu education. If I put it in English, he was an altruistic person. He will take his very last morsel and give it to you,” she testified. 

She added that because of Caiphus's activism, the family suffered greatly as they were constantly harassed by the police. She said their home in Daveyton was frequently raided and the police would tell them that they were looking for Caiphus.

She told the court that she wouldn't be able to say how many raids occurred in a month as they occurred often and not always at the same rate. 

“It changed. It was those police from the security branch. Sometimes it will be four of them, on average. Some would introduce themselves, and some not.

“The one that we eventually got to know around 1986 to 1987 was Sgt [Abram] Engelbrecht. At one time they had come for the raid when they were looking for Caiphus, who was not present. My father asked his name when I was present and he said he was Engelbrecht,” she said. 

Sometimes the family would wake in the middle of the night as police raided their home. She added during the state of emergency in the 1980s, Caiphus was arrested and was in prison for almost a year. 

“Caiphus used to be arrested now and then. As a family, we also suffered greatly. I last saw him alive on August 23 around 3pm or 4pm,” she said. 

She told the court that she did know Engelbrecht when the state asked whether she knew him. “The second one I do know — that is the very same Sgt Engelbrecht. The one I said I knew before we came to this case. He used to come to my home to raid,” she said. 

She added that her brother's funeral was painful as they were given several restrictions to obey while burying him.

“His funeral was not a normal funeral. We were told that the funeral must not be held in a place which was not a closed building.

“We were also given the maximum number of people that were allowed to attend the funeral. We were also told that the person who had to conduct the funeral should be an ordained minister. Also, the manner of burying him with all the restrictions made it more difficult,” she testified.

She said after the death of her brother, there was an inquest in 1988 held at Benoni magistrate's court, but she wasn't able to attend as she was working. 

She said that, as a family, they took the matter to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997. She said they were not satisfied with the outcome of the inquest. 

“We felt that the truth around the death of Caiphus was not properly clarified. None of those that we know applied for amnesty,” she said, adding that they took their case to TRC seeking justice, which they did not find. 

The NPA, defence lawyers and the judge are expected to conduct an inspection in loco at Nyoka's family home on Wednesday morning before the trial continues. 

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