Justice at last – ‘Relief’ for Neil Aggett’s friends and family after 40 years

The gallery of the Johannesburg High Court erupted in applause yesterday, when – more than 40 years after he died at the infamous John Vorster Square – the finding that struggle icon Neil Aggett had taken his own life was officially overturned, and replaced with one that he was killed by the apartheid police.

Speaking after proceedings, a visibly emotional Gavin Anderson, who was a close friend of the medical doctor-cum-trade unionist’s and an anti-apartheid activist in his own right, spoke to the extreme cruelty Aggett’s loved ones had been subjected to over the years.

“To finally hear a verdict that is just, is a great relief,” he said.

Aggett and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Floyd, were arrested by the security branch in November 1981.

Also Read: Aggett Inquest: ‘Neil was killed and his body hanged,’ partner tells court

More than two months later, on 5 February 1982, he was found hanged from the bars of a cell at John Vorster Square (now Johannesburg Central Police Station).

An inquest into his death at the time saw magistrate Pieter Kotze rule it a suicide. But on the back of sustained pressure from the Aggett family, represented in court by Weber Wentzel, and civil society, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola in 2019 agreed to request the Judge President re-open the inquest.

The re-opened inquest finally kicked off in January 2020 and saw other activists, including Barbara Hogan, Reverend Frank Chikane and Parmananthan Naidoo, called to the stand to testify.

Judge Motsamai Makume didn’t mince his words when he handed down his ruling on Friday, going so far as to label some of Kotze’s original findings “disgusting”.

The evidence clearly showed “a big cover up of the truth,” the judge found.

“Neil did not commit suicide. He was killed by members of the security police,” he said.

Also Read: Unfinished business of apartheid era will deny us accurate account of SA’s history

In the days leading up to his death, Aggett was subjected to a harrowing 62-hour-long interrogation which saw him tortured, starved, and deprived of sleep. But still, as the judge found, he did not break, and the day before his death, Aggett filed an official complaint against his chief interrogator: Lieutenant Stephan Whitehead (who has since died).

“When Whitehead became aware the case of assault and torture had been opened against him, he became infuriated and confronted Neil about that. Whitehead was more concerned about his career progression in the security branch and would not permit this complaint to stand in his way, more so that he over 62 hours had failed to get a confession or admission from Neil.

“In his view, the best was to get rid of Neil and eliminate him. After all, this was one of the security branch’s methods. Whitehead knew he had the support and backing of his superiors,” Makume said yesterday.

He also found evidence of five surviving officers – Johannes Nicolaas Visser, Nicolaas Johannes Deetlefs, Eddie Chauke, Joseph Petrus Woensdregt and Daniel Elhardus Swanepoel – having participated in the cover-up and recommended further investigations in this regard.

The gallery was packed with friends and family members of Aggett’s yesterday, among them Isaiah Mogoatlhe.

“He was full of life. He was a servant of the people, a doctor … Right inside us we would refuse to accept that Neil committed suicide because we knew on the kind of people who were actually torturing us, that their main aim was to see us dead,” he said after proceedings.

Now Read: Paul Erasmus: I was told to prove Aggett was born holding a gun to his own head