Neil Aggett

Life & Legacy

Neil Hudson Aggett (6 October 1953 – 5 February 1982) was a Kenyan and South African doctor and trade union organiser who died in detention, after being held for 70 days without trial, during which he was tortured by the Security Branch of the apartheid government's South African Police Service. An initial inquest carried out in 1982 cleared the police, but after continued and increased pressure by his sister Jill Burger, partner Liz Floyd, activists, and supporters, a second inquest was held by the High Court in 2020, ruling in December 2022 that Aggett did not die by suicide as claimed, but was killed by members of the Security Branch.
Aggett was born in Kenya before moving to Grahamstown, South Africa, where he attended high school. He did his medical training at the University of Cape Town before moving around the country working in various segregated hospitals. He became involved in the trade union movement while working in a large hospital in Soweto.