\n Police brutality, \"fake news\" propaganda and official cover-ups at the height of apartheid have been laid bare in a South African court probing the death of a communist activist 46 years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old anti-apartheid volunteer, was arrested in Johannesburg in October 1971 and after five days in detention he died after plummeting from the city's police headquarters.\n<\/p>\n
\n Officers at the time said he took his own life -- a verdict endorsed by an inquest -- but his family fought the ruling and campaigned hard to secure a review that finally began on June 26.\n<\/p>\n
\n A former officer in the feared security branch which held Timol and was involved in sabotaging anti-apartheid groups, has spoken out about his squad's brutal techniques in court.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"(I saw) a man's testicles being crushed like pepper,\" said Paul Erasmus, now 61, who joined the unit after Timol's death.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Electric shocks were used very widely... as all the detectives had little shock machines (adapted) from the old telephone system.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Officers referred to the boxes as \"Radio Moscow\" because of the leftist leanings of many of the detainees, he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Physical assault in custody' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Pathologist Shakeera Holland told the hearing in Pretoria that Timol's body, including his face, was covered in bruises and scratches.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Most of the bruises... were not consistent with a fall from a height,\" said Holland. \"(He) sustained physical assault while in police custody.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Erasmus told AFP he had personally beaten several detainees during his career.\n<\/p>\n
\n Significantly for Timol's family, who are convinced he was pushed from the 10th floor window, Erasmus revealed that a brigadier known as \"the sweeper\" was responsible for covering up police crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"They'd sweep up the bits and sort it out,\" said Erasmus, who kept diaries of his 17 year-long service and admitted he was attracted to the work by \"the James Bond secret agent thing\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Stephanie Kemp, a communist anti-apartheid fighter, told the court that one of the party's pamphlets appeared to have been doctored following Timol's death to apparently endorse suicide in detention as a resistance tactic.\n<\/p>\n
\n Erasmus also disclosed that the police investigations branch was headed by a man considered by his colleagues so brutal and anti-semitic that he was given the moniker \"Little Hitler\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He then told the court how he became an expert at forging struggle icon Desmond Tutu's signature, using it to reply to a wealthy US heiress who had offered him funds, declining the money.\n<\/p>\n
\n In his role in the police's psychological warfare unit, Erasmus said he also produced propaganda to persuade foreign leaders to cut ties to the banned African National Congress (ANC) party.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"People call it 'fake news' today. Sometimes to stir the pot, sometimes to create false impressions -- but the heart of it was to sow disunity in the liberation movement,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Erasmus appeared in court with wiry shoulder-length grey hair, carrying a dog-eared year book and wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket.\n<\/p>\n
\n His evidence has included some of the most significant disclosures about the apartheid system since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which concluded in 1998.\n<\/p>\n
\n Erasmus, granted partial amnesty at the TRC, also revealed that he was involved in efforts to make another activist who died in police custody appear to have been suicidal.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We were told that Neil Aggett hung himself and told to prove he was suicidal from the day he was born,\" Erasmus said.\n<\/p>\n
\n A subsequent inquest found that the white anti-apartheid activist died by hanging and that police were not to blame. But human rights lawyer George Bizos argued at the time that his suicide was induced.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'History is on our side' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Marjorie Jobson of the Khulumani apartheid victim support group described the claim as a major development for the family of Aggett who died in 1982.\n<\/p>\n
\n The revelation visibly affected Jobson, who was in court, prompting her to describe the review as a \"second wave of testimonies\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Bizos, also present for the review, said that criminal charges could still be brought against those implicated in the Timol case.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The people whose loved ones were killed by the regime want to come to terms with themselves,\" he said. \"They want an acknowledgement that their lives counted.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Bizos, one of Nelson Mandela's closest personal confidants, said that the review could have far-reaching consequences.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Truth has a way of floating to the top. We are pleased to also reinforce this for people who were in favour of apartheid -- and we encourage them to come forward,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bizos said that he expected more case reviews, adding \"history is on our side.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The court plans to hear evidence next week from policemen present at the scene of Timol's death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police brutality, \"fake news\" propaganda and official cover-ups at the height of apartheid have been laid bare in a South African court probing the death of a communist activist 46 years ago. Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old anti-apartheid volunteer, was arrested in Johannesburg in October 1971 and after five days in detention he died after plummeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-34078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n