Sister of student activist killed in 1987 describes constant police raids

The older sister of Caiphus Nyoka, who was murdered in August 1987, described him as “a A selfless person who will share his last bite with others.

The woman, who the court ordered not to be named, was the first witness to give evidence in the Benoni magistrates’ court on Tuesday in a murder case heard in the Pretoria high court.

He took the stand after an apartheid-era police officer pleaded not guilty to murdering East Rand student activist Nyoka.

Trio, Leon Louis van den Berg, Abram Engelbrecht and Pieter Stander were found not guilty of murder. The state’s position is that they acted to achieve a common goal in committing the murder.

This is one of the cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

At the time of her murder in 1987, Nyoka was a student activist at Daveyton and a member of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas).

Last Tuesday, Johan Marais, 65, of Unit 6 in Dunnottar in Ekurhuleni, pleaded guilty to murdering Nyoka.

His brother said that his brother’s political activities began in 1984 when he became a member of Cosas. He said that he was an individual who wanted to see equality among people and was dissatisfied with the apartheid regime.

He said he loved people more than himself.

“He too was dissatisfied with his Bantu education. If I say it in English, he was a selfless person. “He will take his last bite and give it to you,” he testified.

He added that the family suffered greatly due to constant harassment by the police due to Caiphus’ activism. He said their home in Daveyton was raided frequently and the police would tell them they were looking for Caiphus.