COETZEE, DJ

A few years ago it was still unthinkable that the force could have been involved in this. When former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee, spoke in November 1989, they said he was mad. But then came the Eugene de Kock case and an orgy of death and destruction committed by him and his men unfolded in ...

Mister Coetzee, do you know the name Ace Moema? // Yes I do Mr. Chairman. // From where do you know this person? // It was the name of an ANC cadre who came to Vlakplaas in the late 1980s, in the 1981s, towards the end of the year as a person that has been debriefed already through all the relative ...

Griffiths Mxenge was murdered by Dirk Coetzee’s hit squad in November 1981. In his amnesty application in November last year Coetzee claimed that he had not questioned the order to eliminate Mxenge because it had come from senior security branch officers. // They were trying to build up a case ...

... commander of the police anti-terrorist unit at Vlakplaas lifted the lid on police death squads. ‘I murdered Mxenge’, confessed Captain Dirk Coetzee. ...

Former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee was supposed to testify this week, but he was prevented by legal technicalities. This is what he would have told the Commission. // Nick van Rensburg and his men poisoned him upon release, poisoned him and apparently he did not add enough poison according to ...

To make the assassination look like a robbery Mxenge’s car was driven to the Swazi border and set alight along with his personal belongings. // I don’t expect the Mxenge family to forgive me because I don’t know how I ever in my life would be able to forgive a man like Dirk Coetzee.

giving their version of the events they do not see their way clear to do so before this Commission as constituted at present … // Thank you mister Coetzee // May I be excused? Thank you for the ...

I don’t expect the Mxenge family to forgive me because I don’t know how I ever in my life would be able to forgive a man like Dirk Coetzee.

Human rights lawyer and United Democratic Front activist, Griffiths Mxenge was killed by three askaris: Almond Nofemela, David Tshikalanga and the late Brian Ngqulunga. Dirk Coetzee and David Tshikalanga were convicted for the killing. Both have been granted amnesty.

The killing or murder of Sizwe Kondile was callous as all security police killings and one wishes that you had never taken part in it.

... banks of the Pongola river. The car was set alight. But the family and friends of Griffiths Mxenge never believed the cover up. They are opposing Coetzee’s amnesty application and he is being charged with ...

Politics has got something to do with it. That’s my feeling, my gut feeling. Because, you must also remember that my application for amnesty was submitted by hand to Dr Alex Boraine at quarter to three on the 5th of March this year in Cape Town, and I took Albert Nofemela’s application with, as ...

Why did you kill Mxenge so brutally? // The intention was not to kill him brutally. It was to make the whole thing appear … it was to simulate robbery. But unfortunately in the scene of crime certain things develop that you don’t expect. Mxenge’s physical strength was undermined but when he ...

Of course there’s well known registered national and international attempts on my life, like the walkman bomb that was sent to me and killed Bheki Mlangeni, the contract murder that they tried in 1992 where they asked the freedom loyalist and terrorist in Northern Ireland and I am seen amongst ...

Can you give us a reason why your policemen did not act regarding the abduction of either the four youths from the manse or of the two youths Lolo Sono and Sibuniso Tshabalala timeously? Can you give us a reason? // In that case it is negligence on the side of the public who knew but wouldn’t ...

I asked for Joe Mamasela to come down to assist in the operation because he was the main operator I would say, with Almond Nofemela of course, but a sober guy. A non-smoker, a non-drinker, had the killer instinct, super fit.

You concede that at the very least those words are ambiguous and capable of different interpretations. // Yes not only those words, sir all words are open to misconstruction. I cannot go into semantics about that sir. The dictionary meaning is quite clear, but I don’t think policemen or soldiers ...

I did not give any policeman any illegal instruction, unlawful instruction. Kill a person, assault a person, or do anything of that nature.

He was officially released at Bloemfontein where his car and belongings were handed to him and then a big scene in front of the uniform branch personal I suppose and when he then left on the road, he was abducted again by Nick van Rensburg and his men.

They were trying to build up a case and just couldn’t get him in because he was sticking strictly according to the law and he was a thorn in the flesh and we have to get rid of him. That’s correct. // So they in fact told you that there was nothing against this man, he was acting according to ...