Two former police officers from the apartheid era in South Africa were found guilty of murder on Tuesday for the 1987 killing of student activist Caiphus Nyoka. This verdict brings a rare element of justice to one of the many violations of the time that went unpunished for decades.

Abraham Engelbrecht and Pieter Stander , both in their sixties according to prosecutors, were found guilty by a judge in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. Sentencing will take place at a later date. A third former police officer was acquitted.

The confession that relaunched the investigation

Nyoka's fatal shooting at his family home near Johannesburg, during the height of white minority rule, was classified at the time by the police as a case of self-defense . Such practices were common in covering up political assassinations under the apartheid regime.

It wasn't until 2019, more than thirty years later, that the case was reopened when another former police officer, Johan Marais , publicly confessed to the murder. Marais, a member of the Reaction Unit , pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison last July. His testimony led to Engelbrecht and Stander being brought to justice.

Dozens of bullets fired at an activist

Caiphus Nyoka, a fervent anti-apartheid activist, died riddled with at least 12 bullets when agents of the dreaded Reaction Unit and the Special Branch stormed his family home at dawn.

A 1988 pathology report and court documents indicate that he was likely shot in the head, neck, and shoulder while sitting up in bed. He was then shot multiple times in the chest, arms, and hands after falling backward.

The legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Nyoka case had already been examined by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997. Established after the end of white rule in 1994, the TRC offered perpetrators of abuse the opportunity to confess and seek amnesty in exchange for the truth, in a spirit of reconciliation. However, no one came forward at the time to acknowledge their responsibility in Nyoka's murder.

The commission had documented thousands of cases of political assassinations, kidnappings, and torture. It had recommended hundreds of criminal investigations, but very few resulted in prosecutions. This inaction has led to years of frustration for the victims and their families.

Public pressure and reopened investigations

Under public pressure, South African authorities finally decided this year to review some of these past violations:

1. Albert Luthuli (1967): A new inquest into the death of the African National Congress (ANC) leader concluded in October that he had been beaten to death, probably by the security police. This refutes the initial apartheid conclusion that he had been struck by a freight train.
2. Steve Biko (1977): Authorities have announced the reopening of the investigation into the death in police custody of this iconic anti-apartheid figure, whose assassination catalyzed global outrage against the system of forced segregation .

Another crucial inquiry will examine the allegation that post-apartheid governments led by the ANC deliberately blocked investigations into these assassinations, as some victims' families have argued.