Court appearance looms for Kathrada Foundation director amid reopened probe into MK operatives' deaths

Left, Prakash Napier and Yusuf Akhalwaya. (Photo: Ismail Akhalwaya / X)

5 Dec 2024

It is almost 35 years since Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members Prakash Napier and Yusuf Akhalwaya were killed in a limpet mine explosion at Park Station in Johannesburg. Now the Hawks have subpoenaed Ahmed Kathrada Foundation Executive Director Neeshan Balton to court to explain the circumstances surrounding their tragic deaths on the suspicion that the two MK fighters were murdered.

The Executive Director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Neeshan Balton, will appear before the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 6 December 2024 after being subpoenaed to provide answers related to the deaths of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members
Prakash Napier and Yusuf Akhalwaya who were killed years ago in a limpet mine explosion at Park Station, Johannesburg.

On 11 December 1989, Napier, Akhalwaya and another member of MK’s Ahmed Timol Unit, Jameel Chad, were on their way to sabotage the railway station when a limpet mine strapped to Napier allegedly prematurely detonated. Both Napier and Akhalwaya died in the explosion, leaving Chad as the only surviving member of the unit.

While the incident was initially regarded as a tragic incident, almost 35 years later the Hawks are investigating the circumstances surrounding the explosion and the possibility that Napier and Akhalwaya were murdered by “unknown suspects”. This comes after Akhalwaya’s widow Farhana Chand requested that the inquiry into the MK fighters’ deaths be reopened based on the belief that evidence was withheld, and alleging that the police were complicit in the murders.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jason Naidoo, a South African Police Service (SAPS) member mandated to investigate TRC-related cases, said in an annexure submitted with the subpoena that while he attempted to interview Balton in 2022, the meeting yielded no relevant information, a lack of clarity that Naidoo claimed had persisted to the present, which spurred the SAPS officer to apply for a subpoena.

‘Authorised by Balton’

According to Naidoo, all the Ahmed Timol Unit’s targets for the sabotage operations were authorised by Balton, and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation executive director provided the unit with dead letter box maps to the arms caches where the limpet mines were buried in Roedan, and de-briefed them on the operation. As such the Hawks believe Balton may have material information related to the case that could help ascertain whether the limpet mines were tampered with.

In a statement, Balton contradicted Naidoo’s assertion that he had not been forthcoming during the investigation of the 1989 operation.

Deceased MK operatives Prakash Napier (left) and Yusuf Akhalwaya. (Photo: Ismail Akhalwaya / X)

“My willingness to assist the investigator, where that is possible, has been repeatedly shown. In face-to-face meetings and in correspondence stretching back now for over two years, I have provided responses to the investigating officer’s queries. I have demurred when faced with vague, speculative questions that point only to an indeterminate fishing expedition,” Balton said.

He added that while he had recruited Napier into MK and was the late operatives’ comrade as the political head of the Ahmed Kathrada Area Political Military Committee, he was not involved in the planning or execution of the MK operation, and had no personal knowledge of the explosion.

‘A fishing expedition’

Foundation board chairperson Derek Hanekom released a statement on Friday welcoming the possible reopening of the inquiry into Napier and Akhalwaya’s deaths, but expressed concern about how the investigation was being conducted, citing the absence of transparency regarding the scope of the investigation from its onset.

“It has shifted from a ‘preliminary investigation’ to ‘cases relating to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ to the ‘reopening of an inquest’, and finally to an alleged offence of murder suspected to have been committed by unknown persons. From the available public information, the Kathrada Foundation is not aware of any findings and/or recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, specifically relating to the deaths of Yusuf Akhalwaya and Prakash Napier. It also has not been able to access any record of an inquest into the deaths of the two comrades that was apparently held secretly by the security police during the apartheid era. It therefore is left with the impression that the investigation may be based on a fishing expedition, possibly driven by sinister motives that may not be publicly justifiable,” Hanekom said.

“These things used to happen that limpet mines would explode prematurely or probably comrades would commit a mistake in setting up the timings for these limpet mines,” Dan Hato, the MK Military Veterans Association convenor, told Daily Maverick.

Hato added that the organisation did not have any insight into why the Hawks suspected that Akhalwaya and Napier had been murdered, but believed that the reason for the subpoena would be revealed as the investigation unfolded.

‘In no way involved’

Hato echoed Balton’s claim that he was in no way involved in the operation that claimed the two MK operatives’ lives.

Speaking about Akhalwaya and Napier’s deaths, Balton said that they were courageous young men who had their lives ahead of them, and added: “ I know the sacrifice they made. Our democracy owes them a debt of humble remembrance.”

Balton added that he would appear at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court as he had throughout his engagements with Naidoo, “ with every willingness to assist and provide information relevant to the investigation”.

“I do so in the hope that the same energies and resources expended in respect to my testimony will be directed at addressing the large number of murder cases of activists and leaders of the liberation movement such a Steve Bantu Biko, which permit of absolutely no ambiguity, relating to the TRC for which no accountability has ever been offered or attempted thus far,” Balton said. DM

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South Africa

‘Authorised by Balton’

‘A fishing expedition’

‘In no way involved’