My poem dedicated to the memory of Ahmed Timol’s, who was severely tortured and murdered by Apartheid’s Security Branch, recited by Luthuli Dlamini in the documentary “Someone to Blame” by Enver Samuels and aired on SABC 3 on Sunday 14th October 2018

Ahmed Timol – A martyr to the cause of Freedom …

(dedicated to the undying spirit of Ahmed Timol, brutally tortured and murdered by the Apartheid regime, and to the countless others who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for liberation)

They tortured you, as you waged your struggle in the just battle, 

they murdered you, as you made the grotesque walls of Apartheid rattle.

Your indomitable will, your unshakeable principles, your unbreakable spirit,

soars high today in our collective African skies,

your ultimate sacrifice for freedom, inspires generations, as you  silenced their cowardly lies.

Today justice has prevailed, after decades of insufferable pain, years of deeply gnawing hurt,

today their lies have been consigned to the dirt.

They tried to murder an ideal,

the revolutionary spirit that burned bright in your heart,


They tried to kill you,

but they will never silence you,

for you live,

through the expanse of our land,

mingling in the rivers,

standing high upon our shared revolutionary hill,

they tried to silence you,

yet the hunger for justice will never be still,

they tried to silence you,

but the memory of your martyrdom never will.