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The GOOD Party welcomes the Gauteng High Court’s sentencing of apartheid-era policeman Johan Marais to 15 years imprisonment for the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka. Marais pleaded guilty to the murder but declined to turn State Witness against three former colleagues who have pleaded not guilty of participating in Nyoka’s murder and are due for trial later this year. 

Although Marais is now a relatively elderly 66-years-old, and committed the crime 37 years ago, his conviction is important to asserting the principles of justice, impartial and apolitical prosecutions, and accountability. The conviction is also important to reasserting the integrity of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission process. The commission recommended hundreds of prosecutions in cases in which perpetrators did not apply, or did not qualify, for amnesty. The recommendations were largely ignored by the democratic state over the past 25 years. 

After family members of victims pressured the State to account for the injustice, including launching litigation for damages in the High Court, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced the establishment of a judicial commission to establish the reasons for the subversion of justice, and whether there was political interference. In the meantime, many of the perpetrators have died without ever having to face justice.

The non-prosecution of these cases - ascribed by former prosecutions boss Adv. Vusi Pikoli to instructions from his political boss, and by former President FW De Klerk to a political deal between representatives of the old government and the new - has been a major contributor to criminal impunity and what has been described as State Capture.

Issued by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General