The Pretoria High Court sitting in the Johannesburg High Court has found two former apartheid police officers guilty of the premeditated murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Gauteng NPA and Hawks said former Sergeants Abraham Hercules Engelbrecht, 61, and Pieter Stander, 60, were convicted, while their former commanding officer, Major Leon Louis Van Den Berg, 75, was acquitted.
The court heard that Engelbrecht and Stander, who served in the Reaction Unit of the South African Police (SAP), met to plan Nyoka’s killing on on the evening of 23 August 1987.
FATAL SHOOTING
At about 02:30 the following day, the officers and other members of the Reaction Unit, who are facing separate charges, stormed into Nyoka’s room, where he was sleeping with three friends. After identifying him, they instructed his friends to leave the room before fatally shooting him nine times.
Nyoka died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.
During the trial, the state called five witnesses, including Nyoka’s sisters Alegria and Mothasi Nyoka, Gugulakhe Exodus Nyokane, one of the friends who was with him during the incident, and the investigating officer, Lieutenant Colonel Beukman.
Van Den Berg and accused 2 filed a Section 174 application arguing that the state had no case. The court dismissed the application, and all the accused closed their cases.
The court ruled that the state had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt against Engelbrecht and Stander.
The NPA welcomed the judgment and described it as an important step toward justice for the Nyoka family. It said it will study the judgment related to Van Den Berg’s acquittal.
The court postponed the matter to 11 December 2025 for the officer’s bail application pending sentencing. Both men remain in custody.
