Vlakplaas

‘Tokkie Bezuidenhout, the ‘Tube Specialist’ of Vlakplaas, on the tricks of his trade.’ // Okay, it’s very simple. You put him down on his stomach, you handcuff him, you put your knees on his back, you stabilize, and you just take the tube and you pull it over his face; in other words you ...

... When I followed De Kock’s case, De Kock did admit that he had something to do with the death of my child and Andy Taylor was the spearhead of the Vlakplaas unit in ...

I was at no stage aware of any unit carrying out assassinations. The Vlakplaas unit as it was explained to me had a totally different objective, a totally different field of activity, I was never part as I’ve said of any decision to assassinate or murder anybody. I totally distance myself from ...

In May 1990 on the instructions of Eugene de Kock we organised jobs in Johannesburg for four askaris on Vlakplaas who had AIDS, namely Ndam, Sebole, Stretcher and Vietnam. We had a problem with them on the farm because other black members did not want to use the same facilities. Dries had a friend, ...

... explanation from the man in the passenger seat of this car. His name is Col Andrew Russell Taylor of the Natal Security Police, charged with former Vlakplaas head Dirk Coetzee for the 1981 murder of Durban lawyer Griffiths Mxenge. Taylor is due to tell the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that ...

... you have evidence, information at your fingertips. In those cases Mr. Chairperson, and I can mention them if necessary, where I became aware … Vlakplaas operatives, I had them charged for murder sir. I didn’t hide them. ...

he had become an ANC agent. His friends and family say he was killed because he sued the police after a colonel had assaulted him. The policemen say Vlakplaas man Joe Mamasela shot Busisiwe Motasi. Warrant Officer Paul van Vuuren admitted to the Truth Commission’s Amnesty Committee that he ...

... around the Bisho massacre where Oupa Gqozo at last gave evidence and the Truth Commissioners clashed publicly and emotionally with the former Vlakplaas policemen. // Your callousness, your coldness and insensitivity shows us the kind of leaders that the South African government chose. // No ...

their disappearance has remained a mystery. But now, Joe Mamasela has decided to talk. For several years during the 80’s Joe Mamasela was based at Vlakplaas; he says his job was to kill anti-apartheid ...

... also serve as a powerful warning to future generations not to repeat the mistakes of the past. But how do we in South Africa do this? For instance Vlakplaas, the death squad headquarters, could be turned into a public park or Steven Bantu Biko’s gravesite into a national monument. Robben ...

... had been convicted were kept secret to protect their families. The Goldstone Commission’s report on Boipatong was never publicly released. Former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee says the police death squads were ...

... know De Kock, he’s a big guy with a big torso. He jumped several times in the face of Ngqulunga. Ngqulunga told him that he wanted to get out of Vlakplaas, he wanted to go and work at Fortis, at the head office and he didn’t want people to run away from him. Brian was a family friend; he was ...

Vlakplaas was also at a certain stage then disbanded, when allegations became substantially, almost … you couldn’t prove, you could no longer say that it was just rumours and we then took steps as information came to the fore. The people who were involved in the assassination are before the ...

General JJ Viktor is a much decorated South African policeman with 45 years of service behind him. Amongst other achievements he founded the base at Vlakplaas in 1979. In September 1992 he was head of the Ciskei Police Force. // My men and I don’t reflect on the CDF. I was not their commander. My ...

What difference does it make when a perpetrator does seem to be genuinely remorseful? In the 1980s Eugene de Kock was the commander at the notorious Vlakplaas and one of the security police’s most powerful and efficient operatives. He is now serving life plus 212 years in Pretoria Central Prison. ...

... and soldiers like assassinations, torture and massacres? And, did they know of these violations committed by the security police and units such as Vlakplaas and the CCB? So far, politicians and generals, including former state president FW de Klerk have said they never ordered anything illegal ...

Vlakplaas was also at a certain stage then disbanded when allegations became substantially, almost, you couldn’t prove, you could no longer say that it was just rumours and we then took steps as information came to the fore.

Schoon told the TRC that he’d never been disciplined for authorizing actions of an illegal nature and said that former Commissioners and Ministers of police such as Louis Le Grange, Adriaan Vlok, Johan van der Merwe and Johan Coetzee had all visited Vlakplaas.

Former Vlakplaas boss, Dirk Coetzee declared in 1989 already that he fetched poison from the head of the forensics laboratory Gen Lothar Neethling in 1981 and gave it to two activists Vusi Mavuso and Peter Dlamini. Neethling denied this and said he never developed poison, a statement later ...

... explosives were also stored in the basement of the building. I delegated the instruction to Brig Willem Schoon who at that stage commanded Vlakplaas unit and once again emphasized the question of not putting lives at risk. The instruction was duly carried out at a later date and the ...