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Four decades after anti-apartheid activist Dr Neil Aggett was found hanging in his cell at the notorious John Vorster Square police station, judgment in the reopened inquest into his death will be delivered.
Anti-apartheid activist Dr Neil Aggett's former cell. (Azarrah Karrim/News24) Former apartheid security branch officer, Johan Naude, says that activist Dr Neil Aggett would have been alive had he been allowed to continue his interrogation of him. On the final day of Naude's three-day testimony at the inquest into Aggett's death, which was ruled a suicide by the apartheid government, Naude told the court that he was of the view that Aggett would have been alive had he not been forced to conclude his interrogation. "When I left, Dr Aggett was in good spirits, I will gi...
Image: James Soullier An allegedly damning confession that pained Dr Neil Aggett so deeply that he ended up committing suicide has never been seen, leading to questions as to whether or he actually killed himself. This is according to Brig Johan Naude, a former security branch cop who had interrogated Aggett at John Vorster Square police station in the 1980s. He was testifying in the Johannesburg High Court at the inquest into Aggett’s death. Naude told the inquiry that he did not believe evidence from his colleague, Nick Deetlefs, that Aggett had committed suicide because of a dam...
Bongiwe Gumede A former apartheid Security Branch officer who interrogated activist Dr Neil Aggett has testified it was hard to grasp news of Aggett's death and there was no evidence that Aggett and others were involved in what the then-government had labelled as the biggest treason trial in the country's history. Johan Naude was the first witness in the resumption of the inquest into the 1982 death of Aggett while in police custody at the notorious John Vorster Square police station, now known as Johannesburg Central. The inquest resumed via a virtual hearing b...
Security branch officer describes 'cordial' interrogation of Neil Aggett 'We had a healthy relationship. We laughed together, smoked together. I think he was happy working with me' Neil Aggett, the trade union leader and labour activist who died in detention in 1982. Image: Gallo Images / Sunday Times The security branch police officer who took down statements made by Dr Neil Aggett, who was the first white person to die in police custody allegedly at the hands of apartheid regime police, on Tuesday said he never laid a hand on Aggett nor any of the suspects he inter...