Johan Marais, former apartheid officer, expresses deep remorse for activist Caiphus Nyoka's murder

Former apartheid police officer Johan Marais, who was earlier found guilty of the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka, has severe remorse for what he had done 38 years ago, and he wishes that he could undo what had happened.

This is according to a psychologist, Kirsten Clark, who gave evidence on Thursday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.

Clark was called by the defence to testify in Marais’ sentencing proceedings. She consulted with him and compiled a report, which was handed to the court.

In November last year, Marais pleaded guilty to the murder. These sentencing proceedings mark a pivotal moment in the decades-long struggle for justice by the Nyoka family. Nyoka was a prominent student leader in the East Rand and the then-Transvaal Province.

In August 1987, Nyoka was fatally shot at his family home in Daveyton by a police unit established to deal with terrorism. In 1988 and 1989, an inquest held before the Benoni Magistrate’s Court resulted in a ruling that the police had acted in self-defence, despite evidence presented by the family suggesting otherwise.

In 1997, Nyoka’s mother, Saroma Nyoka, and his sister, Alegria Nyoka, approached the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to seek justice and to unearth the truth behind the killing. None of the police officers involved in Nyoka's killing applied for amnesty.

In October 2019, Marais publicly confessed to a journalist that he had killed Nyoka. Marais, in explaining the incident to Clark, said that both he and a colleague fired shots at Nyoka.

Marais said before the shooting, he and his colleagues were told by their superiors in the Security policing sector that Nyoka planned to attack the Daveyton Police Station the next day and that he was highly dangerous.

They were ordered to kill him, and his superiors said they would ensure that they would be protected afterwards. Clark painted a bleak picture of Marais, who, on approximately four occasions, tried to end his own life.

It was also suspected that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the nature of his work.

Marais told the psychologist how he often encountered bodies during his duties and once had the head of a dead person in his hands.

Clark said he expressed remorse and regret for his part in Nyoka’s murder, and earlier this year, he wrote a letter to Nyoka’s family in which he apologised for what he had done.

She said Marais sees things differently now, but in the 1980s, he felt compelled to carry out the instructions of his superiors.

He saw Nyoka as a terrorist at the time, and he was taught at police college about “the black danger”, the court was told.

According to her, Marais is a suitable candidate for a sentence of correctional supervision (which includes house arrest and community duties), but she added that he would accept if the court handed him a prison sentence.

Marais, who lives on a social grant, stated that he would then be able to receive the psychological help he had needed all along.

Judge Papi Mosopa questioned why Marais never appeared before the TRC, but Clark said she did not know.

Proceeding.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za