Vlakplaas

... adapted to the South African context by both the police and military. The devolution of decision-making powers resulted in police units such as Vlakplaas and the Namibian-based hunter-killer unit Koevoet operating with virtual impunity, making it extremely difficult to establish lines of ...

... state. It was this that led directly to the setting up of various death squads in the country – such as the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) and Vlakplaas – and the training of surrogate forces such as the hit squads in KwaZulu and Natal. 78. In its quest for legality, the former state tried ...

excludes the Caprivi trainees and their operatives who either provided training or attended these camps (together with former members of the SAP’s Vlakplaas Unit). IFP officials 18. The Amnesty Committee received eleven applications from political officials of the IFP. The majority of these ...

... were deployed to assist in the project. Trainees received instruction in offensive methods and the use of AK 47s. With the assistance of former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock, Powell arranged for the delivery of a number of truckloads of sophisticated weaponry to be delivered to the ...

... and Charles Sebe on 27 January 1991 (application later withdrawn). 280. The Amnesty Committee also received several applications from members of C1/Vlakplaas for their role in providing Kommandant Jan Anton Nieuwoudt with arms to be used in the coup [AM8079/97; AM3766/96; AM4358/96]. At the time ...

in identifying targets for the SADF Special Forces raid into Gaborone, Botswana on 14 June 1985, in which twelve people were killed.30 Members of C1/Vlakplaas and Security Branch Headquarters applied for amnesty for the killing of nine people in a raid into Maseru, Lesotho on 19 December 1985.31 ...

... into the getaway vehicle. The group then drove to Mbabane. No one was ever charged for the killing. 105. In an interview with the Commission, Vlakplaas Commander Eugene de Kock denied that Ngema was ever a source, but testified that one of the assassins had been. This allegation was not ...

... he was being attacked. He escaped briefly and was gunned down in a neighbour’s yard. Transkei and South African police together with askaris from Vlakplaas were implicated in the killing, but the trial collapsed due to lack of co-operation from the security forces. The Commission received ...

... captain Dirk Coetzee to the Harms Commission in 1990) that Kondile had been kidnapped in Maseru, Lesotho, by members of the security police’s Vlakplaas unit. He was detained in Port Elizabeth, then taken to Jeffreys Bay police station where he was tortured and sustained a brain haemorrhage. ...

... Mbengeni Kone, Shadrack Sithole and others 330 The ‘Amsterdam’ operation, which took place on 14 August 1986, was conducted by members of Vlakplaas in association with the Security Branch in Piet Retief in the Eastern Transvaal division. 331 Colonel Eugene de Kock alleged that they ...

... Pietersen out from under the bed and a third member shot him dead. 356 Dubeni was arrested by Western Cape Security Branch members together with Vlakplaas operatives and askaris in Nyanga on 14 March 1987. Dubeni was believed by the police to have been responsible for armed actions in the ...

clandestine security operations. 163 It is during this period that the security police set up an additional base in the Eastern Cape in support of Vlakplaas – based on a farm outside East London and apparently set up sometime during 1987. It is highly likely that one of Coetzee’s key tasks ...

... not be traced back to the security forces. This led to the development of covert units, such as region 6 of the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) and Vlakplaas hit squads. 226 Evidence before the Commission also suggests that, in some instances, the security forces were able to arrange for ...

... Mr Johannes Jacobus Strijdom [AM5464/97] applied for amnesty for torturing activists on a Hammanskraal farm during 1986/7 when he was a member of Vlakplaas and the security police’s anti-terrorist unit – using forced posture, beating and intimidation. Strijdom and Major Sarel du Plessis ...

... months of hospitalisation, she committed suicide by locking herself in her home, dousing herself with petrol and setting herself on fire. 229 Vlakplaas Commander Dirk Coetzee [AM0063/96], Corporal Almond Nofemela [AM0064/96] and Constable David Tshikilange [AM0065/96] applied for amnesty ...

... THE GROUP RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON THE BRICKHILLS WAS LED BY MR CHRISTOPHER BAWDEN. 321 In March/April 1989, a joint Vlakplaas-SADF Special Forces group attacked an ANC transit facility at Ramathlabama, approximately ten kilometres inside Botswana. According to De ...

... Portia Shabangu [JB03397/02NPLTM], Thabo Mohale [JB03397/02NPLTM] and Derrick Mashobane (aka Mpho Mashoeng) [JB03397/02NPLTM] were killed by a Vlakplaas squad commanded by Eugene de Kock in an ambush in a forested area near Bhunya in Swaziland. The three were allegedly going to Swaziland, ...

... body. The third version was presented in the form of an unsigned, typed section 29 detention statement from Mr Johannes ‘Themba’ Mabotha, a Vlakplaas askari who frequented the Mandela home, which states that he was present at a meeting when Richardson informed Madikizela-Mandela that he ...

... On 28 and 29 January 1998, twelve former security policemen, including two former divisional commanders of the Soweto Security Branch and former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock, testified before the Commission. 18 The broader enquiry also heard in camera testimony from members of the ...

... to death for the bombing; his sentence is later commuted to life imprisonment. Four members of the Chesterville Youth Organisation are killed in a Vlakplaas operation in June. KwaNdebele Minister, Piet Ntuli, is killed by a security force car bomb in July. In White City, at least twenty-four ...