PRESS RELEASE
To: All Media
ATT: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters
For Immediate Release
13 November 2024
JOHAN MARAIS PLEADS GUILTY IN CAIPHUS NYOKA MURDER CASE; TRIAL OF CO-ACCUSED SET TO BEGIN ON 18 NOVEMBER 2024
Press statement issued by the Foundation for Human Rights and the Webber Wentzel
Johan Marais, one of the four former police officers accused of the 1987 murder of anti-apartheid activist Caiphus Nyoka, pleaded guilty to the murder charge in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, 12 November 2024. The court convicted Marais on the basis of his guilty plea and postponed the proceedings to 27 January 2025 for sentencing.
The murder trial of the three remaining co-accused—Leon Louis Van Den Berg, Abram Hercules Engelbrecht, and Pieter Stander—is scheduled to begin on 18 November 2024 at the Gauteng High Court, sitting in the Benoni Magistrates’ Court, and is expected to conclude by 6 December 2024.
The Nyoka family, the Foundation for Human Rights, and Webber Wentzel welcome the guilty plea, acknowledging the vital roles played by the DPCI and the NPA in advancing the case.
Marais’s conviction represents an invaluable measure of justice and closure for the Nyoka family, who hope that the forthcoming trial of the remaining accused will proceed without delay. End/
For media queries:
Ms Odette Geldenhuys or Mr Jos Venter, legal representatives for the Nyoka Family, at odette.geldenhuys@webberwentzel.com and jos.venter@webberwentzel.com
Foundation for Human Rights: Humairaa Mayet at hmayet@fhr.org.za, at 073 373 4077
Background:
Caiphus Nyoka, born on 9 February 1964, played a significant role as a leader of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) in Daveyton, Gauteng. He endured harassment and multiple arrests under oppressive legislation by the Benoni security police. Nyoka’s life came to a tragic end on 24 August 1987, when he was fatally shot at his family home in Daveyton by a police unit established to ‘deal with terrorism’.
In 1988 and 1989, an inquest held before the Benoni Magistrates’ Court resulted in Magistrate JP Myburgh ruling that the police had acted in self-defence, despite evidence presented by the family suggesting otherwise.
Nyoka’s sister, Alegria, sought justice for her brother’s killing and appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997. The TRC found that members of the Benoni security police “executed Mr. Nyoka in cold blood” and referred the case to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) for further investigation and prosecution. No-one applied for amnesty in this matter.
The case resurfaced in 2019 when Marais confessed to a journalist that the police had murdered Nyoka. Following this confession, the FHR and others prompted a renewed investigation. With the Nyoka family’s perseverance and support from various quarters, the NPA eventually brought formal charges against the accused after three years, underscoring the complexities of prosecuting apartheid-era crimes.