Media Advisory/ 11 November 2025

MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release

Closing Arguments to be Heard in the Nyoka Murder Trial: 12 and 13 November 2025

The Gauteng Division of the High Court, sitting at the Benoni Magistrates’ Court, will hear closing arguments in the matter of State v Van den Berg and others on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, and Thursday, 13 November 2025.

The trial, which concerns the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka, concluded its evidentiary phase earlier this year. All three accused, Leon Louis van den Berg, Abraham Hercules Engelbrecht and Pieter Egbert Stander, closed their cases without leading evidence.

Prior to this stage, the court dismissed applications by Van den Berg and Engelbrecht seeking discharge on the basis that the State had not established a prima facie case. The court ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the trial to proceed.

Following the oral arguments scheduled for next week, judgment is expected to be delivered on 2 December 2025.

On 10 July 2025, the Pretoria High Court sentenced Johan Marais – a former member of the East Rand Reaction Unit who pleaded guilty to Nyoka’s murder – to 15 years’ direct imprisonment. On 15 September 2025, the Court dismissed his application for leave to appeal the sentence. Marais has since approached the Supreme Court of Appeal, filing his application for leave to appeal on 28 October 2025.

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