Why the Ahmed Timol inquest matters

The reopened inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol is important for a number of reasons.

Timol’s family now have a chance of closure after it was originally found in 1972 that he committed suicide by jumping from a 10th-floor window at John Vorster Square Police Station.

The family has always believed Timol was assaulted, tortured and then murdered – and the suicide story was invented as a cover-up by the security police.

The inquest is a reminder of the almost casual brutality of the apartheid administration and the way your life had little value if you were not white, or were an opponent of the government.

It should give pause to those who like to argue that it “wasn’t so bad” in the past. It was not bad, it was horrific … and never again should that sort of oppression be allowed.

Sadly, though, people like Timol, who fought and died for our freedom, are in danger of being forgotten in the new wave of race-tinged, money-driven ambition sweeping our country.

Timol was a hero who died for freedom and equality. We owe it to his memory to stand up and speak out when those are threatened, no matter who does the threatening.