Vlakplaas

Amnesty hearings in Durban: Dirk Coetzee, Almond Nofemela, David Tshikalanga. State complicity (FW de Klerk on Vlakplaas)

After most operations a braai was held at Vlakplaas to celebrate the successes of the unit. The generals were there, eating and drinking. According to De Kock corruption and fraud, ranging from free booze in the Vlakplaas pub, to the filing of false claims worth up to R80 000 at a time was the ...

... or even before that. // Van der Merwe is now asking for amnesty for his part in the cover-up of the Bopape murder. Last week it became known that Vlakplaas satellite groups in KwaZulu-Natal murdered ANC activists as recently as 1994. That was towards the end of FW de Klerk’s term as president ...

... three categories. 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 ...

... policemen, Jacques Hechter, Wouter Mentz, Paul van Vuuren and Roelf Venter are applying for amnesty for more than 40 murders. These were mostly Vlakplaas operations. Vlakplaas and the death squad activities of the police have been the focus of the most recent exposes of state atrocities. The ...

repression and liberation. But this week we heard something that I personally feel is nothing but naked evil. During the Shell House hearings former Vlakplaas policeman Brood van Heerden, mentioned a plan to spread AIDS among black people in Johannesburg. He’s not the only policeman who told ...

The most obvious generals De Klerk would have asked about Vlakplaas are Generals Basie Smit, Krappies Engelbrecht, Johan van der Merwe, Nick van Rensburg and Johan le Roux. We have learned from the affidavits of several Vlakplaas men that General Basie Smit was a regular visitor to Vlakplaas. They ...

... the 21st of August last year I asked Mr. De Klerk again why he allowed the killings to go on. // What has now come out in court is that that unit [Vlakplaas] continued to murder people… // Which is wrong, which must be absolutely… // Bheki Mlangeni was killed by that unit recently. You did ...

... 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 police. The report is based on ...

... was talking crap. The police said Coetzee was mad, Nofemela was trying to save his own skin and Tshikalanga was nothing more than a gardener at Vlakplaas. The Harms Commission became a farce. // This was the man investigating Coetzee’s allegation, General Krappies Engelbrecht, recently ...

... years sentence for murder and fraud. The nerve centre of these men’s death commando was this beautiful, scenic 44 hectare farm outside Pretoria, Vlakplaas. The secret of the success of this unit was the Koevoet recipe, but at Vlakplaas they were called ...

The news bulletin never mentioned who the policemen were: convicted murderer Col Eugene de Kock and his Vlakplaas death squad. As always the men didn’t take any prisoners; no survivors to tell the tale of death. A former Vlakplaas policeman Sergeant Leon Flores told us his version of the incident.

... time they were joined by the family of murdered askari, Johannes Themba Mabotha, who it was claimed was Winnie’s lover. The former commander of Vlakplaas, Eugene de Kock, who described Winnie as a thorn in the flesh of the security forces gave a chilling account of how he later murdered her ...

The second Maseru is a different operation. It was a Vlakplaas operation; it was led by Eugene de Kock. The operatives were all Vlakplaas operatives, a number of whom have applied for amnesty. The second raid occurred at a time in December of 1985 when the South African government was extremely ...

... 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 ...

At about the same time Vlakplaas had launched a huge manhunt for Odirile Maponya, a high ranking MK guerrilla. During the search Eugene de Kock killed his younger brother, Japie Maponya with a spade. Stanza’s mother and two brothers, visibly upset by this late confirmation of his death believe ...

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.

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.

... 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 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 ...