self-defence units (SDUs)

Africa. Fifty Ciskei policemen were formed up in three lines behind the blade wire. They were equipped with riot control gear. Directly behind them, units of the Ciskei Defence Force were on full alert. They were the last line of defence protecting Bisho. Brigadier Oelschig of the SADF was then in ...

... for amnesty. There’s no question of it, they are coming. But we are proactive in the regions themselves, the regional heads of investigation units in the regions have been instructed to compile a consolidated list and that list is going to be consolidated at the national office for ...

... that the NP leadership was aware of and never disciplined him for authorizing illegal actions. The SADF was less forthcoming especially on covert units like the CCB and DCC. Former Commander of Special Forces did however give evidence on Special Forces deployed inside the country to support ...

Successive states of emergency created an environment where secret units of the security forces flourished. Units like the shady Civil Cooperation Bureau and the police death squads at Vlakplaas were formed.

... intelligence division, Maj-Genl Krappies Engelbrecht. They and the other police officers named in the report were placed on immediate leave. Police units implicated were the old Vlakplaas units C10, the East Rand Murder and Robbery Squad and the Durban Security Branch as well as the KwaZulu ...

unit for the protection of VIP’s in KwaZulu was approved by the State Security Council. Any suggestions therefore that the training of the KwaZulu units had anything to do with the establishment of a third force, which was at that stage still under consideration, constitutes a blatant disregard ...

... with the riot unit at that particular time. We were not able to identify who at that particular time was the commander of those particular two units. But the guy who was known to be shooting, it was a soldier from Queenstown called McOwen, he was coming from Queenstown. And another one was ...

... What appears from investigations thus far is that there were farms which were used as headquarters by the security police or by Vlakplaas-type units. We had Vlakplaas; we had Andy Taylor’s Camp Adon, a farm he used as headquarters. We had a similar sort of headquarters in East London, ...

But the National Party when questioned about the widespread killing and torture of opponents and the use of covert units like that at Vlakplaas and the Civil Cooperation Bureau, was not able to explain who took the decisions and who should take final responsibility.

... getting together having a braaivleis and swopping bush stories. What it is, is SWAPO, ANC, APLA, Umkhonto we Sizwe, Koevoet, Recces, all the units, every single unit, everybody whoever was trained in any way militarily getting together and just making some kind of sense of the mess that we ...

APLA units across the country were told that we haven’t got enough money, we haven’t got enough guns, we haven’t got enough ammunition and the Boers have lots of money, lots of ammunition, lots of guns and they must go and repossess them, not steal them.

... getting together having a braaivleis and swopping bush stories. What it is, is SWAPO, ANC, APLA, Umkhonto we Sizwe, Koevoet, Recces, all the units, every single unit, everybody whoever was trained in any way militarily getting together and just making some kind of sense of the mess that we ...

nobody told nobody. In other words the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. There was 24 hours surveillance on him by surveillance units of BOSS in Durban. // 24 hour? // Yes. // For years? // For years. // And BOSS’ surveillance unit itself was doing surveillance and sometimes ...

... subpoenaed Mangosuthu Buthelezi or any of his Lieutenants to explain their role. One of the most notable successes of the TRC’s Investigation Units has been the exhumation unit which has helped many families dig quite literally for the dark secrets of the past. Over the last two years of ...

... government’s violent strategy of torture and murder against pro-democracy activists. This impression is mistaken. There were other police units who were far more prolific killers. Three of the five security policemen appearing before the Truth Commission’s Amnesty Committee at the ...

Swaziland was perhaps the country that suffered most in the 1980s when Vlakplaas and other security police units raided it year after year.

... gates have truly opened with the torrent of new applications for amnesty from former security policemen and significant breakthroughs with military units such as the Civil Cooperation Bureau and the Directorate Covert Collection. A disturbing element is that there are people at very senior ...

... to Zimbabwe and not explode till I opened it. There was a great deal of intelligence and sophistication, the sophistication that only lay within units such as the CCB. ...

... Robberies evokes negative feelings, but as a matter of fact during the armed struggle we had no logistical support and we had to form repossession units and repossession in our definition was that if you take from the rich then that thing is morally justifiable. ...