A psychiatrist who assessed former apartheid Security Branch police officer Willem Coetzee has found he will be able to follow proceedings in the murder trial of uMkhonto weSizwe operative Nokuthula Simelane, in which he is an accused.

In 1983, Simelane was abducted by Security Branch police officers from the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg.

She was taken to Norwood and later the infamous Vlakplaas farm in Pretoria.

There, she was tortured for weeks and, it is alleged, murdered. Her body was never found.

More than 30 years later, in 2016, apartheid police officers Msebenzi Radebe, Willem Coetzee, Anton Pretorius and Frederik Mong were arrested and charged with murder.

Coetzee, Pretorius and Mong were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Simelane's abduction, but never applied for amnesty for her murder. 

Now, almost seven years later, after numerous delays, only Pretorius and Coetzee are still alive, with the latter claiming he is mentally unfit to stand trial.

Cognitive deficits

The matter of his fitness to stand trial found its genesis between May and June 2022, when the trial was meant to start. It was postponed as Coetzee contracted Covid-19.

His legal team then reported they were unable to take proper instructions or consult with Coetzee. This led to him being medically examined.

In August 2022, four medical reports commissioned by the defence concluded Coetzee suffered from a cognitive deficit condition and could not stand trial.

The State then applied for him to be referred for mental observation at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria. This application was granted by the court.

Fit to stand trial

Following the psychiatric evaluation at Weskoppies, Coetzee was found fit to stand trial in December 2022. However, these findings were challenged by his defence team.

More than a year later, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria started an inquiry into Coetzee's fitness to stand trial. The matter was then delayed due to the death of his former attorney.

Presenting the psychiatric report from Weskoppies on Tuesday, a State psychiatrist, who cannot be named due to a court order, meticulously took the court through the observations and findings of three psychiatrists.

The report found for a person Coetzee's age, he was functioning in the ambit expected. He was aged 70 when the assessment was done. 

The psychiatrist testified she could find no diagnosable condition that would affect his ability to follow court proceedings and contribute meaningfully to his defence.

"From my findings, even if there was a psychiatric diagnosis, there is no diagnosis preventing him from following court proceedings," she said.

The psychiatrist added Coetzee understood the charges against him, could discuss the merits of the case and give details about it.

She said Coetzee could converse in a frank, consistent and clear manner.

Noting the previous medical reports commissioned by his defence team, the psychiatrist added whatever ailments he might have presented with at the time when she assessed him, those conditions were not prevalent.

The inquiry is expected to continue on Wednesday.