Pretoria - It is still unsure when the long-awaited criminal trial of two former security police officers accused of being involved in the kidnapping and murder of anti-apartheid activist Nokuthula Simelane in the 1980s will go ahead.
This is because the court will have to decide in October whether one of the accused is mentally fit to face a trial.
Yesterday, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, unsealed reports following an inquiry into the mental state of accused Willem Coetzee. He is facing a charge of murder together with co-accused Anton Pretorius.
Advocate Jaap Cilliers, who appeared on behalf of both accused, earlier told the court that there was a possibility that Coetzee may not be fit to stand trial.
He said a specialist had issued a preliminary report which indicated that he may suffer from dementia.
Cilliers said Coetzee could not follow or understand the criminal proceedings or complex discussions.
Both the State and the defence had obtained expert reports, with the prosecution’s experts saying he is fit to stand trial, while the defence’s experts refuted this.
Judge Hennie de Vos subsequently ordered that an independent inquiry be done by Weskoppies experts to assess Coetzee’s mental ability.
These findings remained under wraps until yesterday, when the parties received the findings. These have not yet been known, but both the defence and the prosecution will consult their experts regarding the findings.
The case was postponed to October 17, when it is expected that the report will come under the spotlight with the latest panel of psychiatrists being questioned about its findings on whether Coetzee should face his trial or not.
Both accused are elderly at this stage and they were both members of the Security Branch in September 1983 when Simelane was kidnapped at the Carlton Centre in Joburg.
Two of their co-accused, Frederick Mong and Msebenzi Radebe have since died.
Simelane, who would have been in her early sixties now, was allegedly abducted and tortured by former apartheid Security Branch members in 1983.
The accused are facing, among others, a murder charge after Simelane was allegedly abducted in the parking area of the Carlton Centre in the Joburg CBD at the time.
It is claimed the-then 23-year-old Simelane was tortured and killed. Her family have been waiting for answers for nearly four decades.
The-then national director of public prosecutions Shaun Abrahams decided to prosecute the accused for her murder based on evidence gathered by the priority crimes litigation unit of the National Prosecuting Authority following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings.
The former Umkhonto we Sizwe operative was declared dead in 2018 by the court, after her body was never recovered.
The certificate of declaration of death issued yesterday came after her family made a formal application at the court, arguing that if she was indeed alive, she would have visited their family home in Mpumalanga.
Nokuthula’s sister, Thembi Nkadimeng – former executive mayor of Polokwane Local Municipality – lodged the application.
In her papers, Nkadimeng said: “We know from the TRC hearings that my sister suffered terribly at the hands of the secret branch.
“We know that she refused to collaborate with the forces of apartheid. For this, she paid the ultimate price.”
According to her, given her sister’s grim state when she was last seen alive, the family believed it was beyond debate that Simelane was dead.
She said Nokuthula was tortured for several weeks and her family’s efforts to find her were fruitless.
Pretoria News