An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death

Date: 1 Jun 1983
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death

An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale, who had died in custody at the Johannesburg Security Police headquarters, John Vorster Square on 8 August 1982, found no-one criminally liable for his death. Dipale was arrested under the new Internal Security Act and charged with furthering the aims of a banned organisation, the African National Congress (ANC). He allegedly hung himself with a strip of blanket from a cell window three days after being detained. Dipale was the forty-seventh person to die in detention. The Internal Security Act authorised the minister of justice to detain persons considered to be a threat to the security of the state, or the maintenance of public order.

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01O’Malley, P. ‘1983’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za (Accessed: 2 May 2013)
02South African History Online, ‘Ernest Dipale dies in detention’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 2 May 2013)
03South African History Online, ‘Ernest Moabi Dipale’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 2 May 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, May 31). An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095798

South African History Online (2013) 'An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death', South African History Online, 31 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095798 (Accessed: 27 July 2026).

South African History Online, An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095798, (accessed 27 July 2026).

"An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death." South African History Online, 31 May 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095798. Accessed 27 July 2026.

South African History Online. "An inquest into the death of Ernest Dipale finds no-one criminally liable for his death." South African History Online. May 31, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095798.