The Pretoria High Court on Thursday (11/7) morning sentenced former police officer Johan Marais (66) to 15 years of direct imprisonment for the premeditated murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka in 1987.

Marais, who once served as Section Leader of Reaction Unit 6 in Dunnottar, pleaded guilty to the brutal killing, carried out under orders from the apartheid regime. At the time of his assassination, Nyoka was just 18 years old and had already emerged as a key figure in the anti-apartheid student movement.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana, Nyoka was the organiser for the South African Youth Congress in the East Rand and president of the Student Representative Council at Mabuya High School. He was fiercely opposed to apartheid policies and was known for publicly challenging the regime.

On the night of 23 August 1987, Marais and several members of the apartheid-era Security Branch, under the command of Major Leon Louis van den Berg, plotted Nyoka’s murder. In the early hours of 24 August, at around 02:30, the group raided Nyoka’s home. 

Marais, along with Sergeants Pieter Stander, Abram Hercules Engelbrecht, and others, who are still facing trial, stormed into his bedroom, where he was asleep with three friends. After forcibly removing the others, Marais and his team shot Nyoka nine times at close range. He died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds.

Mahanjana said that during sentencing arguments, Marais claimed he had been following orders and expressed remorse, asking the court for leniency. He cited his age, health issues, and the passage of time since the offence. 

However, prosecutors Adv. Esther Dlelwani Kabini, Adv. Daniel Desi Mogotsi, and Adv. Vhulahani Lucus Nesengani Davhana rejected the plea, insisting the crime was too grave to justify a reduced sentence.

The prosecution argued that the murder was not only premeditated, but carried out in cold blood. “The victim was targeted, isolated from the friends he was with, and killed execution-style while half-naked, sleeping in his bed,” the court heard.

‘Never personally apologised to Nyoka’s family’

They further emphasised that Marais’ claimed remorse was insincere: despite his guilty plea, he had never personally apologised to Nyoka’s family in the 37 years since the murder.

Judge Papi Mosopa, in his ruling, sided with the state, stating that Marais had only written to the family in an effort to mitigate his sentence. Mosopa also said that Marais lacked genuine remorse.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi mvh