Vlakplaas

In April 1990 a large squad of Vlakplaas operatives and Western Transvaal security police led by Eugene de Kock set off on a midnight mission into Botswana. Their target was the home and shop of Sam Chan also referred to as Kahn. This week Wouter Mentz sought amnesty for his role in the murders of ...

In November 1989 Dirk Coetzee informed the world and I suppose De Klerk of the existence of Vlakplaas, a police unit on a farm outside Pretoria which specialized in assassinating government opponents.

... this past week to talk about their role in a shooting spree in Nyanga in March 1986. In a day of high drama it was revealed for the first time that Vlakplaas members were involved in the gruesome execution of seven young men from Gugulethu ten years ...

... they got wind of the police bus attack from two informers who had infiltrated the cell. // When were you given a description of the askaris from Vlakplaas who were with this man? // As far as I can recall we weren’t given any description we were just told that there were two informers with ...

... newspaper and one police contacted us after seeing her picture on the newspaper and said he knew that girl, because he kept guard at that girl in Vlakplaas police station. And the last time that police saw Nokuthula, Nokuthula was ill and she was severely and brutally ...

the secret message sent to arch assassin Eugene de Kock a day after the massacre. All these bear the hallmarks of a more sinister puppet master, the Vlakplaas death squads, designed to eliminate activists and cadres. ...

During 1991 Vlakplaas investigated gun running from Mozambique to ANC and PAC units in the country. A plan to ambush and arrest four gun smugglers turned into a shooting spree. The four men were killed in cold blood, but the official story was that they were killed in self defence.

... country, but in the Western Cape their record was poor and this man, Capt Riaan Bellingan was dispatched from the special counter-terrorism unit at Vlakplaas to help Cape Town security police improve their intelligence gathering network and their counter-terrorism ...

... to Coetzee he and his four man death squad assassinated this man, Griffiths Mxenge in 1981. ‘Nonsense’, police said. ‘The man was crazy, Vlakplaas never killed anyone.’ // A claim by a former police captain that he led a hit squad that eliminated government opponents has been firmly ...

The names of Eugene de Kock, Dirk Coetzee and Joe Mamasela have become household names in South Africa the last few years. So has the name Vlakplaas, the farm where these efficient killers had their base. The secret of the so-called successful death squad was the use of a group of men and women ...

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.

There were high expectations that the disappearance of the three Port Elizabeth activists known as the Pebco three would finally be resolved this week. It did not happen. Col Roelf Venter, a former Vlakplaas officer only admitted to being part of the abduction of the men.

Allegations of security force involvement in the East Rand violence have never gone away. A third force and Vlakplaas operatives were alleged to be fanning the fires of war, but the most often heard allegation was that the police gave Inkatha guns and protection. In this ANC video police drop off ...

... shocks, smothering with a wet bag over the head or decide to work for the security police with benefits like proper pay and a luxury life on Vlakplaas. So it’s obvious, it’s human that you would choose the easy way ...

... by the discovery of this huge arms cash near Krugersdorp. But it was not an ANC’s arms cash as the generals claimed. Eugene de Kock says his Vlakplaas unit had in fact been asked to supply the weapons that were then planted. It was done in order for the SADF to justify their second attack ...

... the East Rand were seething. Six COSAS leaders died in July in 1985 after being lured into launching an attack with hand grenades, booby trapped by Vlakplaas policeman Joe Mamasela. At one of their funerals Maki Skosana was fingered as the informer who gave him away to the police. Even the people ...

Grim and gory details of Vlakplaas murders, abductions and cross border operations emerged again this week. Dirk Coetzee, Almond Nofemela and David Tshikalanga who are applying for amnesty for a range of atrocities continue to spill the sordid tales of South Africa’s secret death farm.

Mamasela is a self confessed killer. He’s one of the Vlakplaas operatives who took part in the Pebco Three operation. He has not applied for amnesty but will testify before the Truth Commission once all the amnesty applicants have been heard. He has a very different account of the killings.

... Harold Snyman, Hermanus du Plessis, Johan van Zyl, Gideon Niewoudt and Gerhardus Lotz are asking for amnesty for the murder of the Pebco Three. Vlakplaas operatives Roelf Venter, Gert Beeslaar, Kimpani Mogoai and Johannes Koole are applying for their ...

Casselton did not disappear. He went to live on Vlakplaas where his friend, Eugene de Kock looked after him. It was during this time, De Kock claims, that Craig Williamson wanted him to kill Casselton.