The sentencing proceedings of two former apartheid police sergeants convicted of the premeditated murder of student activist and Congress of South African Students (COSAS) member Caiphus Nyoka have been postponed after one of the accused cited ill health.
In a statement released on Tuesday, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) North Gauteng spokesperson Tshegofatso Makhudu said Abraham Hercules Engelbrecht (61) and Pieter Stander (60) appeared before the Pretoria High Court, sitting in Benoni, for sentencing after they were found guilty on December 2, 2025.
Nyoka, a COSAS activist, was abducted by members of the apartheid security police in 1987 during the height of political unrest on the East Rand. He was tortured before being shot dead, and his body was secretly disposed of in an attempt to conceal the crime. His remains were only recovered years later after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process helped uncover details of his killing.
According to Makhudu, Engelbrecht, through his legal representative, applied for a postponement of the sentencing proceedings, saying he was in poor health and needed to consult a medical specialist before sentencing could commence.
The defence also requested time to obtain a pre-sentence report from the Department of Correctional Services.
Makhudu said the State simultaneously brought an application for leave to appeal the acquittal of former commanding officer Major Leon Louis Van Den Berg (75).
The court granted Engelbrecht’s application, postponing the sentencing proceedings to November 9–13, 2026.
On the State’s application for leave to appeal Van Den Berg’s acquittal, the judge reserved judgment, saying the ruling would be delivered to the prosecution and the legal representatives of the accused in due course.
Engelbrecht and Stander were convicted for their roles in Nyoka’s murder nearly four decades after the killing, in one of several apartheid-era cases being pursued by the NPA as part of renewed efforts to secure accountability for unresolved political crimes
