Press Release: Findings in the Re-Opened Haffejee Inquest

The curtain finally came down on the long and protracted struggle waged by the Haffejee family to get justice for Dr Hoosen Haffejee who died in detention at Brighton Police Station on 2 August 1977. The family never accepted the finding of magistrate Trevor Blunden at the first inquest that Dr Haffejee had committed suicide by hanging himself with his trousers.

On 13 September 2023 Judge Zaba Nkosi handed down his judgment in the reopened inquest into the death of Dr Haffejee, and confirmed the family’s belief that Dr Haffejee did not commit suicide but was brutally tortured and killed by members of the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP). Judge Nkosi did not mince his words when he described the first inquest as “a substandard inquiry to rubberstamp the police version, conducted by a disgraceful magistrate and aided by a disinterested prosecutor”. In his judgment Judge Nkosi acknowledged that detainees were routinely subjected to torture to break their resistance. The torture included assaults, electric shocks, suffocation and verbal abuse as testified by former activists Coastal Govender, Mohamed Timol, Yunus Shaik and Raymond Suttner. The torture administered to Haffejee was confirmed by former Security Branch officer Mohan Deva Gopal who, in addition, informed the court that officers were instructed to fabricate stories to cover up the torture of detainees.

Judge Nkosi found that Dr Haffejee did not commit suicide but died as a result of a cardiac incident while under torture or a cardiac incident caused by ligature constriction applied by Security Branch members whilst unconscious or debilitated by torture. Judge Nkosi found that the Security Branch officers primarily responsible for torturing and murdering Dr Haffejee were Captain Petrus Lodewikus Du Toit and Lieutenant James Brough Taylor, both now deceased. Du Toit died in 2008 and Taylor died in 2019, only few days after the Minister of Justice announced the reopening of the Haffejee inquest.

Judge Nkosi also found that a number of other Security Branch officers and and SAP uniformed members stationed at Brighton Police Station played a role in the torture of Dr Haffejee, and the cover-up of his murder. Judge Nkosi has recommended that the National Prosecuting Authority considers bringing criminal charges against the surviving police officers and individuals implicated in the Haffejee’s murder and cover-up, as well as charges of perjury at the reopened inquest, including Mohan Deva Gopal, Vera Ragalulu Naidoo, Derek Hugh Naude, Johannes Meyer and Matheevatinee Benjamin.

The FHR would like to recognise the commitment, dedication and the hard work of members of the Haffejee family, Senior State Advocate Shubnum Singh (who played a critical role in getting the Haffejee re-opened inquest off the ground and who has supported the family throughout the process), Warrant Officer Frank Kgamanyane and Senior State Advocate Macdonald for their commitment to this matter.