S.Africa: Apartheid-era minister guilty of attempted murder – The Dirty War between Whites and Blacks

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[Vlok was a good guy and he gave orders to have one of the important Blacks killed. However, the Whites had good reasons for all these things. Frank Chikane, whom he wanted to kill, was a very nasty Black Christian. That guy was very nasty. I used to watch what he was saying and inciting the Blacks to do. I think the state had every right to do what they did. But, Vlok, who was behind this, later did a Christian thing of washing this Black's feet to avoid getting jail time. That was something of a mockery. Don't imagine the Whites were the only ones doing dirty stuff. The Jews and Blacks were doing tons and tons of dirty tricks. They were murdering people and doing nasty stuff. Jan]

Adriaan Vlok told security police to kill activist cleric

Plea bargain sees 10-year suspended sentence

Sat 18 Aug 2007 00.06 BST

South Africa’s former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok yesterday became the only senior politician from the white regime convicted of apartheid-era crimes as he pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a prominent cleric.

Vlok, 70, received a 10-year suspended prison sentence under a plea bargain by admitting he ordered the security police to kill the Reverend Frank Chikane, a leading anti-apartheid activist, in 1989.

The deal saved former cabinet colleagues a full trial and further revelations about how much South Africa’s white rulers knew of atrocities, including murder, bombings and torture, that they continue to blame on rogue elements in the security forces.

But under the terms of the plea bargain Vlok, in the late 1980s a hardline minister who has since admitted he passed on directives from the cabinet for the police to "eliminate" anti-apartheid activists, is obliged to assist in any future prosecutions over crimes he knows about.

The former police commissioner, Johan van der Merwe, and three other former high-ranking police officers also pleaded guilty and received suspended prison sentences of between five and 10 years.

Mr Chikane, now the director of President Thabo Mbeki’s office, sat behind the five men accused of lacing his underwear with a nerve agent that nearly killed him when he was secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches. The former law and order minister shook the cleric’s hand and smiled at him.

Vlok, who became a born-again Christian after leaving office, is the only former cabinet minister to admit to apartheid-era crimes. It was his extraordinary plea for forgiveness to Mr Chikane, as he washed the cleric’s feet, that led to the prosecution.

As he left court Vlok said: "Obey the lord and he will heal our land."

After the hearing Mr Chikane said he hoped the guilty pleas would contribute to reconciliation. "I must say I am pleased that this thing is over and we can move forward. I hope that whatever happened today can be used as a way of resolving all the outstanding issues," he said.

The state prosecutor, Anton Ackerman, told the court the case was not a "Nuremberg trial" nor an attempt at revenge.

But protesters outside the court demanded more trials for those who failed to gain amnesty by admitting their crimes to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). One placard carried a picture of the last white president, FW de Klerk, who won a Nobel peace prize for ending apartheid but whose claims to know nothing about murders and other atrocities have been met with widespread scepticism. The placard said: "Walked out of the TRC. Selective memory denialist. Nobel peace laureate?"

The 33,000-strong Khulumani Support Group, which runs programmes for the victims of apartheid abuses, was outside the court in support of its demand for a charter of redress. "The charter identifies the fact that reconciliation has a price. The price is the cost of redressing the terrible wrongs done to individuals and communities across South Africa," the group said.

Others were on hand to demand that ANC leaders also be put on trial for crimes committed in their struggle against apartheid.

Forum, a group allied with mostly white trades unions, marked the trial with a flower-laying ceremony in memory of "victims of ANC terror attacks" and "other victims of gross human rights violations".

A group of 37 ANC leaders applied for a blanket amnesty for the military campaign against white rule, but it was refused because they were obliged to apply individually and give a full confession. None has faced charges.

Backstory

Adriaan Vlok was at the forefront of South Africa’s "dirty war" – the apartheid regime’s murder, bombing and abduction of its enemies, even if they were not involved in violent struggle. As law and order minister in the 1980s, Vlok was a hardliner who linked the cabinet and police chiefs, who were told to "eliminate" opponents. He also signed pre-drafted letters thanking policemen for assassinating opponents. One former policeman described being visited by Vlok and other cabinet ministers and encouraged to kill activists in the Eastern Cape. Vlok said the former president PW Botha had been "very happy" about the bombing of the South African Council of Churches headquarters. But unlike Botha or other colleagues, Vlok has renounced his past and shown his repentance by washing the feet of the widows and mothers of the Mamelodi 10, who were lured to their deaths by a police agent.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug/18/southafrica.chrismcgreal