Pretoria – Two former apartheid enforcers – former commanding officer Major 75-year-old Leon Louis van Den Berg and ex-sergeant 61-year-old Abraham Hercules Engelbrecht have failed to have murder charges against them dropped.
The Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni dismissed the Section 174 application of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 brought by the pair who were claiming the “state had no case against them”.
The ruling means the two, together with their co-accused, former Sergeant, 60-year-old Pieter Stander, face a charge of murder for allegedly killing a young activist who was a member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), Caiphus Nyoka.
It is alleged that on the evening of 23 August 1987, the three who were members of the Reaction Unit within the South African Police Service met to discuss a plan to kill Nyoka.
A plan to raid his home was devised under the commanding officer, Major Van den Berg.
Allegations are that in the early hours of 24 August 1987 at about 02h30, Stander and Engelbrecht and other members of the Reaction Unit who are also charged separately, arrived at Nyoka’s homestead and stormed Nyoka’s room.
They found him sleeping in the same room with three friends.
It is the state’s case that after identifying Nyoka, they removed the friends from the room and thereafter proceeded to shoot him nine times.
Nyoka died on the scene as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
During the trial, the state called five witnesses, two of whom were Caiphus Nyokas’ sisters, Alegria and Mothasi Nyoka.
Other witnesses were Gugulakhe Exodus Nyokane, one of the three friends Nyoka was with on the night of the incident, an expert witness who was the TRC researcher, DR. Rousseau, and the investigating officer of the case, Lieutenant Colonel Beukman.
After the five witnesses testified the state closed its case.
Thereafter accused no 1 and 2 – Van Den Berg and Engelbrecht – brought a section 174 application claiming that the state had no case against them.
After the court dismissed their application, accused number 1 opted to remain silent and closed his case.
The matter was postponed to 8-19 September 2025 for the defence case of accused numbers 2 and 3.
The case against the former Section member of the Reaction Unit 6 in Dunnottar, 65-year-old Johan Marais, who was charged and convicted for the same offence, was postponed to 5 and 6 June 2025 for sentencing proceedings.
“This court outcome is encouraging as the State overcomes the first hurdle that was presented by the defense in order to prevent the trial from proceeding,” National Prosecuting Authority Gauteng spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said on Friday, (23 May 2025).
“The State will continue to put forward a formidable case to ensure that justice is served against such atrocities of the apartheid era.”
