Imtiaz Cajee: “Joao Rodrigues Takes Answers about Ahmed Timol’s Murder to his Grave… He Showed No Remorse.”
Faizel Patel – 07/09/2021
Apartheid-era police officer Joao Rodrigues who is charged with the murder of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol has died.
Rodrigues passed away on Tuesday morning after battling an illness.
Seventy-nine-year-old Rodrigues was charged with Timol’s murder following an inquiry in 2017 where the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the apartheid struggle stalwart did not commit suicide but was rather pushed to his death, while in police detention at the than John Vorster Square in Johannesburg back in 1971.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Cajee says Rodrigues and his legal team delayed the legal process and justice for his uncles murder.
“The painful reality is that he and his legal counsel have beaten the system. He simply takes to his grave the answers that he had about the true nature of events that unfolded in room 1026 at the notorious John Voster Square Police Station in 1971 placing himself at the crime scene at the ’72 inquest as well as the 2017 inquest.”
Cajee says Rodrigues showed no remorse for his actions, failed to make a full confession and the state failed to “take him to task” for his role in Timol’s murder right up until his death.
