Indians Can't Fly will premiere on SABC3 on 1 February 2015 at 19h30
Indians Can't Fly is a 48-minute television documentary that tells the story of Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old Roodepoort teacher and anti-apartheid activist who fell from the 10th floor of the security police building in Johannesburg in 1971.
The documentary is narrated by Timol's nephew Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, author of Timol: Quest for Justice, and directed by Enver Samuel.
The documentary will premiere on SABC3 on 1 February 2015 at 19H30.
A police inquest concluded that Timol committed suicide while under interrogation, but questions remain whether he may have been pushed, or tortured to death and thrown from the window. It has been suggested that the roadblock at which Timol was captured was set up specifically to trap him – which could mean his murder was premeditated by police.
Samuel recalls listening awestruck to Timol's mother's testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996.
"There was Mrs Hawa Timol, an elderly lady and ever-grieving mother, relating in her home language, Gujarati, the painful loss of her son. It was an extraordinarily emotional moment, even in the context of the general environment of emotion that characterised the TRC.
"I have since followed Timol-related activities in the media, such as the naming of the Ahmed Timol Secondary School by President Mandela, Imtiaz's book launch and the posthumous award of the Order of Luthuli in 2010. Finally, media coverage on the Secrecy Bill and access to Timol's security records in November 2011 triggered me to make contact with Imtiaz. After a number of years, we have produced a documentary on one of the unsung heroes of our struggle," Samuel said.
Cajee described the documentary as "an important milestone in preserving Timol's legacy", saying it aimed to enlighten young South Africans on the role Ahmed Timol played in the struggle for non-racialism.
Watch the trailer of Indian’s Can’t Fly below
The film traces Timol's upbringing in Breyten, Mpumalanga, and then Roodepoort. Interviews are conducted with his comrades, former teachers and students, Security Branch policemen and advocate George Bizos, who represented the Timol family at the inquest in 1972.
For Cajee, however, pertinent questions remain on what really happened to Ahmed Timol. "I have evidence that the police roadblock was not routine, but a setup. My uncle¹s underground activities were monitored by the Security Branch and he was under police surveillance," he says.
These, among other facts, will be unearthed in the publication of the second edition of Quest for Justice, due for publication in October 2016 on the 45th anniversary of Timol's death.
This statement was issued by Oryx Media for the Timol family. For more information please visit www.ahmedtimol.co.za.