By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court has offered closure to the family of Durban anti-apartheid activist Dr Hoosen Haffejee by ruling that his death was not suicide, as claimed by apartheid Security Forces.
Judge Zaba Nkosi handed down a lengthy and detailed judgment on Wednesday, setting aside the original inquest findings of 1978 by Magistrate Trevor Blunden and recommending that those surviving officers involved in the death be charged by the National Prosecuting Authority.
The Durban anti-apartheid activist died 46 years ago at the Brighton Beach police station after he was detained by the Special Branch police officers on suspicion of his involvement in the struggle.
He further attributed Hoosen’s cause of death to either a cardiac incident while under torture or a cardiac incident caused by ligature constriction applied by the Security Branch members “either while less conscious, unconscious, or debilitated after torture”.
Nkosi found that Hoosen did not die in the early morning but instead late on the night of August 2, 1977, most likely between 10:23pm and 11pm.
Haffejee was a dentist who died in police custody on August 3 1977, aged 26. The police, at the time, the police alleged that he had hung himself with his trousers from a grille door at Durban’s Brighton Beach Police Station.
“Following an interrogation at the police station, Haffejee was found deceased in a cell with his trousers twisted around his neck, suggesting a possible ‘hanging’.
“An inquest held by the government at that time ruled that nobody could be held liable for Haffejee’s death and that the cause of his death was likely self-inflicted,” a statement from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) read.
However, since the original inquest and following the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the matter was referred to the NPA for the reopening of the inquest.
In October 2017, a team from the Priority Crimes Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), led by Advocate Shubnum Singh, began an investigation into Haffejee’s death. In August 2019, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services formally requested the Judge President of the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court to designate a judge to reopen Haffejee’s inquest.
“The inquest was thus reopened and new additional evidence was presented to the inquest court.”
In reaching his decision, Judge Nkosi considered the evidence from medical experts disputing that Haffejee’s death was suicide.
Nkosi also deliberated testimonies of other detainees who also endured interrogations by the South African Police Security Branch and an inspection in loco where an expert had reconstructed the scene.
“In overturning the findings of the initial inquest, Nkosi referred to the first inquest as pitiful, sub-standard and riddled with bias.
“He concluded that Haffejee’s death was not self-inflicted,” the NPA said.
Nkosi found the suicide was staged to cover death under torture.
His recommendations, according to the NPA, were that the surviving members of the police security branch as well as others, be held responsible for Haffejee’s death.