Idea that Neil Aggett killed himself is laughable, judge says, blaming apartheid era police

Activist Neil Aggett did not commit suicide but was killed by the apartheid security police, the Johannesburg high court has found.

Aggett, a medical doctor, was working at the then Baragwanath Hospital while campaigning for black workers’ rights through the trade union movement.

He was found hanging in his police cell on February 5 1982. This was 70 days after he had been arrested, kept in custody and interrogated as police tried to pin terrorism charges on him.

The high court conducted a second inquest into Aggett’s death, beginning in January 2020.

The first inquest, in 1982, agreed with the police version that Aggett had killed himself after he had given police a damning statement that exposed his comrades.

On Friday, judge Motsamai Makume said the story that Aggett contemplated committing suicide was ridiculous and a joke.

“There’s evidence that the conduct of the police led to the death of Aggett. There is evidence that they lied,” he said.

There was evidence that the security branch police committed acts of torture to get rid of ANC members.

The court questioned why no action was instituted to find out why contraband was found in Aggett’s cell. One of the items was a tie, which should not have been allowed when he was detained.

“There was no explanation why one fingerprint was picked up from the grill [where Aggett allegedly hanged himself].”

There would have been multiple fingerprints if Aggett had climbed up the grill, Makume said.

Aggett was committed to bettering the lives of workers and there was no reason for him to commit suicide.

“Why would he wait four days after laying a complaint against the police to commit suicide?”

A theory that he committed suicide because a friend could not bring him a radio in his cell was laughable, Makume said. If it were true that Aggett had disclosed unlawful activities within the ANC to the police, arrests would have been made pursuant to the disclosure.

“The claim that Aggett produced a four-page document to implicate his comrades is unsubstantiated,” the judge ruled.

“The magistrate [in the first inquest] accepted lies from the police. The evidence of assault of detainees is overwhelming. The court accepts that Aggett was tortured. It is clear his death was a cover-up of the truth.

“Having heard all the evidence, Aggett was killed by the police of the security branch. He was tortured and the suspects were known to him,” Makume said.