Imam Haron Inquest: Apartheid-era cop says he didn’t know the security branch tortured people

Johannes Hendrik Burger was a uniformed police officer in his sixth year of service when Imam Abdullah Haron was detained at Maitland Police Station in 1969. Haron was held there for 45 days and Burger interacted with him in the last two weeks of his life.

THE LAST LIVING POLICEMAN FROM THE TIME OF DETENTION TAKES THE STAND

Burger, who is now 78 years old, took the stand on behalf of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on the sixth day of the reopened inquest into Imam Haron’s death in detention on Monday, 14 November.

Webber Wentzel’s Advocate Howard Varney, who is representing the family, told the court Burger had an illustrious career in the police service. By the time he retired in 1997, he was a Captain and had been bestowed with medals for loyalty and combatting “terrorism.”

At the time of Haron’s detention, Burger was a Constable. He recalled the Imam was listless on the morning of his death, on 27 September 1969, and said he complained of pain in the stomach. He said he asked the Imam if he would like to see a doctor and the reply was he just wanted the pain tablets previously given to him by policemen at the station.

Later that day, Haron was found dead in his cell. Burger said he saw the Imam lying on the ground – half stretched out.

Once he was confirmed dead, higher-ranking police members including detectives, the station commander and others rushed to the scene and Burger continued with his patrol duties.

A few days later, Burger was summoned to Caledon Square Police Station where he gave a statement about the circumstances surrounding Haron’s death. He said it was the only time he had been to the Caledon police station, which was the haunt of the apartheid security branch.

He recalled being shown a diagram of Haron, while making the statement, which showed a bruise at the same place the Imam complained of pain to him before his death. He furthered that he was told Haron had sustained these injuries in a fall down stairs at Maitland Police Station.

Burger insisted that it could not be true as the stairs at his police station were not very high.

BURGER NOTICED HARON WAS NOT WELL IN HIS LAST DAYS

Going back in time a bit, Burger said it was clear to him something was amiss with Haron in his last days – he noted the detainee had trouble walking and preferred to return to his cell quickly instead of exercising. According to the witness, the pair had occasionally spoken about family matters and rugby before.

He also said the only thing he knew about Haron’s detention was that he was being held for raising funds for ‘terrorism training.’ Later, the witness would contradict himself and claim he never said this.

As previously reported, it is alleged that one of the missions Haron was tasked with by the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) was recruiting young men to join the armed struggle against apartheid.

The men were meant to undergo training in guerrilla warfare outside the country and Haron was the perfect cover as the men were to leave under the guise of a haj or education course before returning as per usual.

Advocate Varney prodded, asking the witness whether he reported his concerns about Haron’s condition. Burger said he wrote it down in his logbook but could not say whether his superior officers followed up on the matter.

Burger painted himself as a loyal soldier (his words) who followed orders to the letter and did not rock the boat. Even in his testimony, he would not entertain questions that required him to deal with hypothetical situations.

He said the police were ‘putting out fires’ everywhere at the time of the Imam’s detention and there was no one he could raise his concerns with because they were so busy.

Burger said he fought in the border war and also battled revolutionary forces within South Africa. He said while this was true he was sympathetic to the Imam’s plight or else he would not have met with his family in later years.

He teared up when he told the court he is sorry about what happened to Imam Haron and said he showed the Imam’s grandson where he was locked up in Maitland Station. “I could not tell the young man what happened because everything was kept quiet.”

ADVOCATE CANNOT BELIEVE BURGER DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE SECURITY BRANCH

The proceedings were marked by Burger’s insistence that he was completely unaware of the Security Branch’s reputation, never mind activities, during those years.

The witness said he never spoke directly to the Security Branch, even when political prisoners like Stephanie Kemp were held at Maitland Police Station. Every instruction uniformed police officers received came from the station commander.

At this point, it appeared that Burger misunderstood the question. Advocate Varney clarified and asked the witness if he was aware of the security branch’s reputation for hunting down anti-apartheid activists and torturing them. He also asked if the witness was aware of any other deaths in detention at the time.

Burger said he was aware of deaths in detention because he read newspapers but he could not speak on the security branch’s reputation as he was always told “you go by what evidence you have.”

When Advocate Varney put it to him that his answers were evasive, as the security branch’s reputation was common knowledge, Burger accused the defence of putting words in his mouth.

He insisted the first time he became aware of the security branch’s brutality was in September 2020, when Lieutenant-Colonel Deon Peterson – the investigating officer of the Haron cold case –showed him new illustrations of Imam Haron’s autopsy that clearly showed the 27 bruises and one fractured rib he sustained in detention.

Burger said when he saw those diagrams, it was clear to him Haron had been brutalised. He referred to Peterson as his “saviour” because before he saw the drawings he felt he could not divulge information about Haron because he had no evidence. Burger said the original autopsy drawings he saw in the past were not as detailed as the ones he saw in 2020.

 An increasingly annoyed Advocate Varney said he found it very difficult to believe that the first time a veteran policeman became aware of the security branch’s abuse was in 2020.

Varney went further and said Burger was presenting false evidence and told him that, unlike the 1970 inquest, he could be found guilty of perjury in these proceedings. The witness did not take kindly to this reminder and told Judge Daniel Thulare that it was ‘a blatant threat.’

CONTRADICTION

The family’s legal representatives also tried to get an idea of what Burger thought of Haron and his political views.

Although he described himself as a soldier – he said he was a supporter of the police service in terms of fighting crime but he did not support the political party in power. He alluded to a political party he did support but chose not to name it, as it was not relevant, he said.

Advocate Varney put it to the witness that he viewed Imam Haron as a terrorist, a claim he vehemently denied.

“Imam to me was a predikant [pastor in English],’ said Burger and he insisted that it never crossed his mind that Haron was a terrorist. At this point, he contradicted himself and said he “only heard that Haron was held for accumulating money” but he wasn’t sure what for.

Advocate Varney informed Burger of the contradiction – referred to earlier in this article – and he said he did not put it that way. Judge Thulare informed Burger that he also heard him refer to terrorism but eventually the lawyer moved on to another line of questioning.

The lawyer also asked Burger about the 62 hours Haron spent away from Maitland Police Station between 17 and 19 September.

An expert witness, Dr Segeran Naidoo, said Haron’s physical condition worsened considerably after this removal where he was interrogated and likely tortured at an unknown location. The security branch claimed Haron fell down stairs at Caledon Police Station on the night of the 19^th, which was blamed for his death at the 1970 inquest.

READ: Imam Haron Inquest:  Sustained assault the root cause of ‘Imam’s demise’ – court hears

Non-committal as ever, Burger, said he had no knowledge of Haron’s removal from the station or his return, however, he added that if a statement from the 1970 inquest said it happened, then it did. Burger said “you never saw the security branch members” and he had no knowledge of the alleged fall at Caledon Square Police Station.

Earlier in his testimony, the retired policeman said when he was on duty he kept the key to Imam Haron’s jail cell door. The other key, which unlocked the padlock to the cell gate, was kept in the charge office at the police station.

Burger explained that the two-key system was a safety precaution for political detainees so that if there were an attempt to break such prisoners out of jail it wouldn’t be easy.

However, he said if he was attending to a crime scene and could not return to the station to open the cell – if needed – another police officer would drive to his location to collect the key.

Burger said he worked shifts – 6:00-14:00; 14:00-22:00, etc. – and never saw Imam Haron being removed from or brought back to Maitland Police Station.

Advocate Varney asked for an adjournment at approximately 15:30 on Monday, as he expected to spend a lot more time questioning Burger.

The former policeman is expected to take the stand again when the inquest resumes on Tuesday, 15 November.

READ:

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