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Former Reaction Unit 6 leader Johan Marais appears in the High Court in Pretoria on July 10, 2025.
Former apartheid-era police officer Johan Marais has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka.
Marais, who led the Reaction Unit 6, was found guilty of Nyoka’s premeditated murder in 1987.
The plan to kill and raid Nyoka’s home was devised by some members of the security branch under the then commanding officer Leon Louis van den Berg, who has been charged separately.
They targeted Nyoka in his sleep and shot him multiple times while he was half naked.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana welcomed the sentence.
Mahanjana says, “At the time of his death in August 1987, when he was brutally killed by Marias and his three alleged co-perpetrators, Nyoka was a student activist and was fiercely opposed to the apartheid policies. In court, Marias asked for a non-custodial sentence, however, the state opposed that.”
[15 YEARS’ DIRECT IMPRISONMENT FOR ONE OF CAIPHUS NYOKA KILLERS]
The Pretoria High Court handed down a sentence of 15 years ‘ direct imprisonment to a former Section Leader of the Reaction Unit 6 in Dunnottar, Johan Marais (66). This is after Marais pleaded guilty and was… pic.twitter.com/A2iHHfyMjs
— Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (@CrimeWatch_RSA) July 10, 2025
