PRIME EVIL
duration 50 min
00:00:59:00 In: Music
00:01:25:00 “Eugene Alexander de Kock, you have been found guilty of the murder of 6 people, and I hereby sentence you to 212 years imprisonment.”
00:01:49:00 For 18 months the Pretoria Supreme Court heard of a tale of murder, ambushes and assassinations, planned, master-minded and executed by Colonel Eugene de Kock. Like the 4 people in this minibus, murdered by De Kock and his men in 1992.
Eugene de Kock is a highly decorated policeman, who became apartheids’ most effective assassin – a man called “Prime Evil”.
00:02:20:15 “He is a monster.”
00:02:22:02: “He doesn’t value life.”
00:02:25:05 “He was just a killing machine.”
00:02:27:00 “A very violent war machine.”
00:02:30:00 “To him a black life meant nothing.”
00:02:33:20 “Eugene is a man that’s an expert in his field.”
00:02:37:00 “I can tell you,, he’s a snake.”
00:02:39:00 “Boof” – ‘cause that immediately drew the picture – “De Kock the Killer.”
00:02:44:19 “He can do the job.”
00:02:47:05 “Because one minute he can act normal, the next minute he’s completely insane.”
00:02:52:20 Not long ago, Eugene de Kock was still one of the most powerful and feared policemen, Commander of the police death squad, based at a farm called “Vlakplaas.”
A man who could decide who would live and who would die.
00:03:23:00 Super: Sept. 1985 The Border between Swaziland and South Africa.
A group of security policemen bring a young man to a plantation and murder him. Japie Maponya became a victim of Eugene de Kock and his men, only days before he was due to get married to the mother of his child.
00:03:39:15 Super: Daniel Maponya. Brother of Japie.
“Japie – he was sweet to everybody, advisor to everybody, loved everybody, church goer – he was alright in his mind. There was no problem about Japie, that is why I know he felt he must marry …………..Maureen.”
00:03:57:00 Japie Maponya was innocent, but he had a brother Oderele who was an ANC soldier. The police were looking for Oderele and therefore the whole Mapnya family as harassed.
00:04:12:15 Super: Danie Maponya
“My father – the police, they were harassing my father – every day – take him to the veld to ask him the questions – an old man – an old man like my father, and I think it’s create a sickness in my father.”
00:04:27:08 Daniel Maponya, Japie’s eldest brother was also detained.
00:04:33:12 “They just take me out, they put my head inside the water, after that they pull me out, they say “Just tell me – tell us truth”. “say what I must tell you, you can do what you want”. They say “ons gaan jou dood maak. (We’re going to kill you). Ek sê “Ja, julle kan my doodmaak, julle weet vir wat.” ( I say you can kill me, you know what for ). Hulle maak daai sak vas, nie dieselfde soos the eerste nie. (They fasten that sack, not like the first time) They said to me “Now you are going to die.”
00:05:05:11 And then it was Japie’s turn. He was kidnapped and taken to Vlakplaas. He didn’t know where his brother was, but the Vlakplaas men couldn’t let him go. Maybe he could identify them again, therefore he had to die.
00:05:23:17 “They start to torture Japie in Vlakplaas, torture him with many things, guns, hit him, took shambok to Japie”.
00:05:37:15 According to evidence in court, Vlakplaas took Maponya to the border with Swaziland, where De Kock hit him with a spade and buried him in a shallow grave.
00:05:48:07 “When they start to say they shoot him, the gun jammed, they changed the gun they take another gun, it didn’t work. They felt that they must take a spade……. you see, it’s how they get Japie he must die.”
00:06:05:05 Super: Lt Peter Casselton Colleague and friend.
“Is there a kind way to kill someone? You know, normally killings are ….. you know it happens quickly, you know, you don’t have time to go and find a lethal injection and lie the boy down on the bed, and give him an injection you know, if there’s a spade handy and you want to kill somebody you better go for it with the spade, you know.
00:06:26:10 “Now, we have told them that they must bring the body of Japie ………... De Kock must know there is the body.”
00:06:33:19 “Why do you want the body of Japie?”
00:06:35:08 “We just want to bury the body by ourselves. The whole family think like that including Maureen too.”
00:06:35:08 “We just want to bury the body by ourselves. The whole family think like that including Maureen too.”
00:06:42:16 Super: Lt Peter Casselton
“You can’t feel anything. You know, if you, if you treat Aids patients, you can’t feel pain if someone ties, you know, that’s part of life, you know, if you feel pain, you can’t have the job anymore. Eugene is a soldier, he’s a killer, you know, and that is what he was taught by the South African Government.”
00:07:02:09 Super: Daniel Maponya
“Japie was a man. He loose his family because of De kock, because of the police, the top police, Japie loose his family.”
00:07:15:23 Super: Major Craig Williamson, Former Security Policeman and friend of Eugune.
“It’s one of the dichotomies of man, that in fact, perhaps because you’re a loving father, because you love your people and because you love your country, you’re prepared to kill for it. You may also have to be prepared to die for it.”
00:07:33:22 “That man he must suffer. How, I don’t know, but he must suffer, and God is going to punish him, that’s what I’m sure of.”
00:07:48:12 The Vlakplaas unit emblem, the Honey Badger – said to be invincible and invisible.
00:07:56:12 Super: Sgt. Leon Flores Security Policeman: Vlakplaas
“The Honey Badger is a very tough creature – hard, and we thought that we were a tough and hard team.”
00:08:06:01 These were the men of Vlakplaas, People with nicknames like “Chappies” (chewing gum), “Brood” (bread), “Balletjies” (balls), “Duiwel” (devil), “snorre” (moustache) and of course “Prime Evil” himself. De Kock’s friend, convicted killer and former member of the Defence Forces’ Civil Co-Operation Bureau, Ferdi Barnard, gave him his nickname.
00:08:30:16 Super: Ferdi Barnard Vlakplaas Agent
“There was a program on children’s TV where, I don’t remember whether it was with the Ninja Turtles, something like that, but there was a guy there that was a bad guy that was “Prime Evil.”
00:08:42:18 Because of his poor eyesight, De Kock was also called “Brille” (spectacles).
00:08:52:00 Super: Ferdi Barnard
“Always said that thick glasses (spectacles) is the biggest one I”ve ever seen in my life, ‘cause you must see that man shoot with glasses like that. I’m not talking about shooting people but his ability with firearms and that, you cannot believe, I said to him “That is the biggest I’ve ever seen – that glasses and that.”
00:09:07:24 “How would you describe a day in the life of Vlakplaas?”
00:09:14:06 “Nice.”
00:09:15:13 Super: Lt Peter Casselton
“Very easy – drive to work at 9:00, park the car, sit around, do nothing really constructive. Lunch time, buy meat, braai, drink, and go home. That is the typical day at Vlakplaas.”
00:09:38:01 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout Security Policeman: Vlakplaas
“But here from 1 – 2 o’clock, everybody’s jumping for the bar and that’s were the thing starts. Where all these funny stories came from, we’re going to do this, we’re going to use this method, we’re going to do this.”
00:10:10:17 “We used to go to parties at the Palarus Hotel, with hookers and strippers, Eugene used to pay for everything. It was a good life.”
00:10:22:04 Super: Sgt Leon Flores
“We used to hire the Ladies Bar, like one night for instance, and it was just our members, no females, just males, and we’ll have a stripper, which “Brood”, Dries van Heerden – known as Brood (bread), brought from Johannesburg. And it used to be a wild drinking party.”
00:10:39:04 “Who paid for it?”
00:10:42:15 Who paid for it? I presume it came out of Police Funds.”
00:10:46:23 “Was there a lot of drinking going on at Vlakplaas?”
00:10:48:14 “Not a lot – continuously.”
00:10:52:17 Super: Sgt Leon Flores
“And every new person, or visitor to the farm, had to down a wine glass of that, and the garlic we called “Leeu Tande” (lion teeth). So the glass would have 10 or 12 pieces of lion teeth in, filled up with this prohibited concoction, - that’s what it is, - and you had to down this. 09% of the people who downed that, ran out and puked immediately. Those who kept it in never had friends for a week, they never had a wife for a week, I presume,, as well, ‘cause you honked of pure garlic. Our nickname at Head Office was “The Knoffel Squad” (the garlic squad).
00:11:29:08 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout
“What we did there, I don’t think any sober or normal person, could perform those duties. It’s impossible, you must be intoxicated or be in a heavy plug”.
00:11:44:02 “But you know, this is soldier fraternity. You would swear each other, and one oke would sommer hit another (one guy would just hit another) – it’s a rough area, that man comes from Koevoet (Military Special Force). Those people you don’t play with them, you know.”
00:11:59:23 Super: Warrant Officer Joe Mamasela: Security Policeman Vlakplaas
Too much drinking, they even had to build their own pub at Vlakplaas, they drank like fishes, and when they drank, they started beating the Askaries (black security policemen) up.”
00:12:11:20 Super: Lt. Peter Casselton
“They were respectful only to Eugene. He controlled all of them there. They were very respectful to him. And if they stepped out of line, he used to beat them.
Physically beat them. And the others used to stand and watch, and they used to agree with him.
00:12:30:13 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout
“Eugene had this sjambok and used to use this thing plenty times. I watched – on the Askaries – he used to hammer them with sjambok, really.”
00:12:41:04 Super: Sgt Leon Flores
“He never beat them like you beat a dog. But he used to, like you would say, “tug” (punish) him, like you would with you child. I mean, he had to keep that standard of discipline there.”
00:12:53:02 In 1989 Askari – Moses Netlahong walked into the Vlakplaas pub, and told Eugene de Kock that he had lost his pistol. De Kock broke a snooker stick over his head in what was described in court at a “killing frenzy”. The men attacked him – he was tubed and killed.
00:13:14:23 “How do you ‘tube’ somebody?”
00:13:16:20 “OK, it’s very simple. You put him down on his stomach, and handcuff him, you put your knees on his back, you stabilize and just take the tube and pull it over his face, in other words – you suffocate the person.
00:13:30:00 “Well, the first time I saw De Kock, I knew that I had to do with a person that suffers from multiple personality disorders, in other words, he was just a mad maniac. He was one moment extremely happy and cheerful, and the next he was extremely aggressive and he beat up people until a point of unconcious.”
00:13:55:19 “When you ‘tube’ any person, normally you’ll wait until you see he wet his pants, then you know he’s going through the gate upstairs, then you leave him, and the minute he …..(draws last breath), then you ‘tube’ him again.”
00:14:11:03 Super: Riaan Stander Former Policeman and friend
“He could rule them by fear, and that is really the way that he ruled, and controlled his group, was by fear. So …………”
00:14:22:20 “Why where they so scared of Eugene de Kock?”
00:14:25:09 “They knew that he would have taken them out.
00:14:28:23 “Just take Brood van Heerden, if De Kock calls him, Brood would run towards him.
“Ja Majoor” (yes major), and then he would start chewing his nails, in front of De Kock – like this. You can look at Brood’s fingernails – he used to chow it, so what does it tell you? He was scared of him?”
00:14:47:10 “Did he ever hit you?”
00:14:50:00 “Yes, one night………”
00:14:52:00 “He took a swipe at me but I jumped away, I ducked.”
00:14:55:05 “Grompie – Fok – Fok de Kock. (Grumpy – Fuck – Fuck de Kock)
00:14:56:12 “You don’t tackle this guy without gloves.”
00:14:58:18 “Doesn’t the words, with all respect – Fok Fok de Kock say everything? He would shout and swear, became very upset ….”
00:15:06:23 “He threatened to kill me, and throw my body into the sea.”
00:15:10:06 “We had, our run ins,”
00:15:12:18 “I feared for my life”.
00:15:14:13 “But he had very devious ways of getting to you and ingenious ways of planning thing, that nobody else could think of.”
00:15:25:03 The men at Vlakplaas where not only raucus party goers, they were also famous for their “Spanbou” or team building expeditions.
This one was held at Sudwana Bay in Northern Natal.
00:16:06:09 “Spanbou” is usually 4 days, it’s nice, and government expenses, who doesn’t ………………... everyone does it. One big party. Play rugby competitions, get intoxicated, and wrestle, and stuff like that.”
00:16:19:21 In this instance, the men were joined, by General Krappies (crabs) Engelbrecht. He was the unit’s so-called “Sweeper”. The cop who had to cover up. He was implicated in court in some of the charges against De Kock.
00:16:35:15 Super: Lt. Peter Casselton
“They were sitting on their arses, in the offices, and he was doing the work in the field. And all the Generals like someone like that, because it gives them the credit, and they don’t have to put their arse on the line.”
00:16:50:15 The end of the eightees saw Eugene de Kock at the peak of this career. He had already been decorated for bravery, outstanding service and combating terrorism.
In December 1985 he received the Police Cross for bravery for this raid into Lesotho. De Kock and his men killed 7 people in cold blood. They received their medals from former Police Commissioner, General Johan van der Merwe. To this day the General denies any knowledge of the existence of police death squads.
Eugene de Kock was charged with only one murder committed between 1983, when he arrived at Vlakplaas, and the end of the 80’s.
Our investigation had shown however, that he was involved in the killing of at least 49 people.
00:18:10:11 As the sun set over the 80’s, this country was not only at the dawn of a new political era, but in the dark world of death squads. The unthinkable was about to happen.
A former Vlakplaas commander spoke:
00:18:32:03 “A claim by a former police captain that he led a hit squad, that eliminated government opponents has been firmly rejected by former police commissioner, General Johan Coetzee.
In an article published in the “Vrye Weekblad” (Afrikaans newspaper), Coetzee referred to hit squad members as Askaries. According to General Coetzee, former terrorists who joined the Security Police assisted in the identification of infiltrating ANC and PAC members. Praising their work, General Coetzee denied that the Askaries had ever been ordered to assassinate, adding, and we quote: “just the thought of such a squad, would defeat all the police stands for.”
00:19:11:24 Coetzee went into hiding in Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, where he would spend the next four years in exile.
00:19:20:18 Super: Capt. Dirk Coetzee, former Commander: Vlakplaas
“I can tell you in ’89 when they called me all those names of a “liar”, “unstable” “mentally upset because of my sugar diabetes”, I never felt so lonely, so deserted, so out in the cold.”
00:19:36:01 Super: Warrant Officer Joe Mamasela
“There was some ripples of shock, shock waves, you know, he shook the whole security apparatus of Vlakplaas to the roots. You know, Commanders, Generals, Brigadiers, they were running ‘helter skelter’, like beheaded chickens.”
0019:55:20 At Vlakplaas there was chaos. After a decade, the most secret and covert police unit was exposed.
For the first time there was conclusive evidence – the apartheid state had murdered.
00:20:12:13 Super: Riaan Stander
“Eugene was spitting blood. Eugene was looking for the right person to go and kill Dirk Coetzee. He approached me directly, ………. at the offices in 1991 or beginning ;92 he asked me directly if I don’t have the means to eliminate Dirk Coetzee.
00:20:39:07 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout
“He hated him terribly – he hated him because at that moment all the people, our colleagues in the bard, they decided that we must get rid of Dirk.”
00:20:55:14 An explosives expert at Vlakplaas built a bomb into the earphones of this walkman cassette player.
Before the bomb was sent off the Coetzee in Zambia, a prototype was tested on a pig’s head.
00:21:10:15 “The earphones were put on the pig’s head – right - and the walkman were activated.”
00:21:21:20 “And what happened to the pig’s head?”
00:21:23:00 “Holy sherbert, there was hardly anything left – it almost looked like minced meat.”
00:21:30:20 Super: Dirk Coetzee
“You know, when I left the country, my household broke up, my kids had to leave the country, we moved 38 times in exile to stay ahead of the government-sanctioned hit squads, Eugene de Kock’s efforts to try to get rid of me.”
00:21:46:22 “Everybody was waiting for the results. They were waiting, really, and they were anxious to get the results because they really thought Coetzee was going to fall for this trick. And everybody, all of us were waiting to hear the results if this guy is dead or not.”
00:22:06:18 As De Kock and his men were plotting the death of Coetzee, Vlakplaas faced another threat. State President F W de Klerk appointed the Harms Commission of Inquiry to investigate death squads.
00:22:21:17 “Did you lie to the Harms Commission?”
00:22:23:11 “Oh I lied, I lied, we all lied from Cape to Cairo, it was shambles.”
00:22:2823 Super: Major Crag Williamson
“They believed totally the nonsense that was fed to them. I mean, the whole Harms Commission was a farce. it was fed manure and it was kept in the dark and it grew the type of mushrooms it was supposed to grow.”
00:22:45:24 Super: W/O Joe Mamasela
“We were told to lie, it was instructions from the Generals, we should lie, there was no way we could compromise the police. We were told in all certainty that we should lie.”
00:22:59:24 While the men at Vlakplaas continued to lie to the Harms Commission, De Kock and his squad attacked a house in Botswana. They shot and killed a PAC activist, his wife and two children.
00:23:17:01 De Kock and his superiors would stop at nothing to hide their crimes. Even if it meant another murder.
This is the grave of Constable Brian Ngqulunga. For 9 years, one of the units most trusted members.
00:23:33:04 “Brian – the whole thing shook him to the marrow. It disturbed him. He was a completely devastated person. He was a pathetic sight. You know, he was frail, he drank too much. The whole exposure into the media, worked on his mind.”
00:23:53:08 Super: Riaan Stander
“Eugene never boasted, or he never talked about that. But yes, I knew, and he would mention that he had to eliminate someone because of the fact that the person was policing a threat, and threatened to go out and talk about certain things.
00:24:11:02 Concern was raised about Brian Ngqulunga’s behavior, and his drinking problem. And that he’s becoming progressively agitated and nervous. And they were afraid that in this condition will jeopardize the police’s case in the Harms Commission. And, de Kock suggested that Brian should be killed, he should be eliminated.”
00:24:37:11 On the 20th of July 1990, Brian Ngqulunga was shot dead in the township of Shoshonguwe near Pretoria. His grave is on a hill overlooking Vlakplaas.
He was given an official police funeral. Nine months after his appointment, Mr Justice Louis Harms released his findings. - “There was no police death squads” he said. Dirk Coetzee had lied.
Nearly six months after Eugene de Kock and his men had sent a parcel bomb to Zambia, Dirk Coetzee received a message to collect it. Vlakplaas gave the name of the sender as Bheki Mlangeni, Coetzee’s lawyer in Johannesburg.
Coetzee was suspicious, and refused to accept the parcel. It was therefore sent back to Johannesburg and delivered to Bheki.
00:25:32:12 Super: Seipati Mlangeni, wife of Bheki
It was a small box. On one of the cassettes it was written “Evidence Hit Squad. That’s all what I saw. And we went home, and it was around eight o’clock, he took off his jacket and took the earphones which were already provided. he put them on his ears, then he switched on …. all what I saw after, I just heard a big bang.”
I really don’t know why this happened, I mean for the person who had never killed anybody, for a person who has been fighting for his people’s dignity peacefully and a person who had never carried a weapon to be killed like that. It was just terrible.
00:27:06:24 According to evidence in court, when Eugene de Kock heard that Bheki Mlangeni and not Dirk Coetzee had been killeld, he said “It did not matter, Bheki was anyway a member of the ANC.”
00:27:20:22 Super: Seipati Mlangeni
“Eugene de Kock to me is like a vicious animal. He is an animal that will not look twice, I don’t know if I could say, at it’s prey. he is a cruel person.”
00:27:57:02 Super: MURDER, MONEY AND PLEASURE
Super: 26 March 1992, Nelspruit, Eastern Transvaal.
Murder and robbery detectives investigate a crime scene. Four suspected bank robbers, travelling in a minibus have just been shot dead by this group of policemen from unit C10, based at Vlakplaas.
This police video shows the men and their commander, Colonel Eugene de Kock, at the crime scene.
They said they shot in self defence when they wanted to arrest the suspects and were fired on.
00:28:33:22 Super: Ferdi Barnard.
“I knew about the operation, they they were going to go down with the bank robbers – I knew about that. After that I physically sat with him, the next day and two after that. And not De Kock, but Chappies Klopper and some of the other members told me how they shot and how the one guy was blown out of the kombi (minibus). And still in great detail with a lot of laughing and that, told the oke (guy) was on fire, he was crawling and don’t know good work – like this – or bye-bye – or whatever.
00:29:07:00 Vlakplaas did not shoot in self defence. They lured their victims into a deadly ambush and fired 220 bullets at them. And then planted weapons in the mini-bus and set it alight.
Afterwards, they claimed the reward for the weapons, and paid themselves a cash bonus.
Death had become profitable.
00:29:45:14 The early 90’s. Vlakplaas was exposed and the ANC unbanned. The war between the ANC and the Government was over.
Eugene de Kock and his men were given a new role. The anti-terrorist unit was now fighting organized crime. In the process De Kock surrounded himself with criminals and eventually became one himself.
00:30:12:16 Super: Corrie Goosen, Vlakplaas informer
“We worked on cocaine, weapon smuggling and that – Swaziland – all the states around South Africa.”
00:30:22:16 Meet Corrie Goosen, Vlakplaas agent and convicted diamond smuggler.
00:30:30:18 “I was caught for illegal diamond dealing, he heard of that and he was personally involved solving the case for me.”
00:30:43:07 And then off course, Ferdi Barnard. Convicted murderer, another of De Kock’s agents.
00:30:50:20 Super: Ferdi Barnard
I’m very connected in the underworld and the crime-world in Johannesburg, and he came to me and we spoke and I put certain informants at his disposal, took them around I went out with him at night. I gave him access to certain places where the criminal elements frequent. And then it became a daily thing.”
00:31:14:03 “Well, we also had other activities, and….”
00:31:20:24 “Like what?”
00:31:22:00 “Well – like diamond smuggling.”
00:31:27:04 We would also, if the right thing comes along, I’d say to him: ‘look, I’ve got you a buyer for this or for that. I’m one of those people that don’t believe all the diamonds belong to Mr. Harry Oppenheimer.”
If it comes along – I don’t have to rob it – and it comes along and I think there’s a feasible option, and I can make some money, I would. I’m not saying that’s what we did, but things like that.”
00:31:54:00 Acting on information from Ferdi Barnard, Vlakplaas raided a group of diamond dealers. A far cry from their usual routine of hunting down political enemies.
00:32:06:12 “De Kock and his team came in there like they were hitting a terrorist infiltration house. I just heard people screaming inside and they broke the doors off and they ran all of those people into the ground with guns against their head, pulled hair out of their heads, and stuff like that. And the poor Captain from the Pietersburg Diamond Branch was like a nervous wreck.”
00:32:48:23 Goosen and Barnard were not only at the forefront of De Kock’s crime combating operations, they also managed a brothel for Military Intelligence in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
00:33:00:18 Super: Corrie Goosen
“Well, we’ve got the best girls. Sometimes we pay them a thousand rand per night. It was selected through – all over South Africa.
00:33:13:15 “Was this brothel ever frequented by members of Vlakplaas?”
00:33:17:23 “Yes, I would invite them there, all of them, we’ll just drink and braai (barbecue), tell each other stories of some that you know. You know what okes (men) are like.”
00:33:32:18 “Yes, they loved the women, I mean, if you saw them they’re the best.”
00:33:37:11 “Did De Kock ever use some of the prostitutes?”
00:33:39:18 No, he wasn’t into that business.”
00:33:42:08 “Who used the prostitutes?”
00:33:43:11 “Agh, all these guys working under him, and some of the military guys.”
00:33:50:10 “Did they have to pay?”
00:33:52:09 “No not really, sometimes they feel they like to pay the girls, to think you know, but they didn’t have to pay them – military was paying for all the girls.”
00:34:06:16 The killing of Askaries continued. Goodwill Sikhakhane threatened to expose the dirty secrets of his security police masters. Eugene de Kock instructed W/O Willie Nortje to kill him. Sikhakhane was brought to a plantation near Greytown, Kwazulu-Natal where he was shot dead.”
00:34:30:17 Super: W/O Joe Mamasela
“Esmarhema was killed because he is not trusted, he asked too many questions. Jackson in Port Elizabeth was killed because he wanted to talk, he was disillusioned. Martin Mpufu was killed, he was disillusioned. Bramos died because he knew too much.”
00:34:56:00 In one of the most dramatic moments during the De Kock murder trial, Sikhakhane’s skull was handed in at court. Nearly four years after Vlakplaas had shot and buried him, investigators dug up his skeleton and charged De Kock with his murder.
Eugene de Kock, as powerful as ever, in his new role of fighting crime.
00:35:22:01 Super: Riaan Stander
“I don’t think there’s anyone whose been involved in more contracts and killing in South Africa than Eugene de Kock. And, yes, it is just logically it must have changed his whole insight, his whole personality, his whole value of life.”
00:35:43:14 The previous night 45 men, women and children were massacred by Inkatha Impis armed with spears, pangas, sticks, rifles and pistols. It was the biggest massacre in the history of this country, bringing the peace process to a temporary standstill. The attack took place at a time when Vlakplaas was arming Inkatha.
Although de Kock denies any complicity in the matter, his weapons could have been used in the attack. There might even be more direct involvement.
00:36:24:00 “They trained the Zulus, which I knew for a fact, that they trained Inkatha members in the use of fire-arms, petrol bombs, explosives, killings, and they were then sent out from the secret houses which they operated from the East Rand.”
00:36:42:08 “Like Boipatong, he would supply the weapons and after that they were signing the weapons back. There was only two guns lost in that situation.”
“In Boipatong?”
“That’s right.”
“There were two guns lost?”
“Two shotguns.”
“”Two shotguns that was given to Inkatha?”
“That’s right.”
“Why did they give the weapons to Inkatha for the Boipatong massacre?”
00:37:06:01 “The ANC – too protect them against the ANC.”
“A lot of people were killed at the Boipatong massacre?”
“That’s right.”
“Did De Kock ever say anything about the massacre at Boipatong?”
“Ja, he said at one stage, it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I mean, they were only given guns to protect themselves.”
00:37:27:05 “Do you think he felt bad about it?”
“Yes, definitely. He had a sad saying about that.”
00:37:35:24 By 1992 Eugene de Kock was deeply involved in common crime. Hundreds of thousands of rands were stolen from the police secret fund and divided between the Vlakplaas men. Instead of fighting arms smuggling, De Kock became a gun-runner himself.
00:37:54:24 “Were you ever involved in selling weapons with De Kock?”
00:37:58:03 “No.”
00:38:04:20 We traced one of De Kock’s attempted deals back to a Johannesburg arms dealer.
00:38:11:00 “I was given this by De Kock so that we could – you know, give him the big order for 200 pieces. And other stuff that we were looking for, for 1 of our clients in Africa.”
00:38:21:23 “How much money did he want for the machine pistol?”
“500 hundred rand a piece”
“Why didn’t you buy it?”
“cause it would have been illegal to buy a consignment of weapons, that I know, would have been stolen, because I can remember the way it was handled, no paper work.”
00:38:39:09 The arms dealer was warned not to deal with De Kock. When he told him so, he received death threats.
00:38:47:09 “We sent him a message back, we were able to get a dead dog from the SPCA, and left in the veld for a while, so it was nice and crawling with maggots and we had it delivered to his home with a message from us. After that he never contacted us – he – all the harrassments stopped.
00:39:16:07 Captain Chappies Klopper, a member of the Vlakplaas Inner-Circle. Men who had killed and murdered with Eugene de Kock. And W/O Willie Norje, confidant and friend.
00:39:33:17 “He assaulted Chappies in a certain hotel in Berea because he thought that Chappies had an affair with a lady from maybe a Xhosa or Venda tribe, and it wasn’t - to him it wasn’t correct.”
00:39:56:05 De Kock told Willie Nortje to kill Chappies Klopper. Chappies asked his friend, Ferdi Barnard for help.
00:40:05:19 Super: Ferdi Barnard
“He said that Willie Nortje came to him, Chappies, and said to him that De Kock wanted Willie to put Chappies away.”
00:40:15:15 “Eugene became very unstable, very paranoid, towards the end.
00:40:21:16 “And then Chappies asked you to kill De Kock?”
00:40:23:19 “He said to me De Kock wants him killed, I must kill De Kock – he offered me cocaine and a cash amount.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I said to him – you mad.”
00:40:35:11 In April 1993, Eugene de Kock’s 27 year career in the police came to an end when Vlakplaas was disbanded.
State President FW de Klerk approved the pay off of 17,5 million rand for 84 Vlakplaas policemen who took early retirement.
De Kock received more than a million rand.
00:41:01:13 “They gave me too much money, they gave me a sum of 400 000 plus.”
“Why did they give you so much money?”
“I think it was to keep me – to shut my big mouth.”
00:41:15:09 Between the years 1983 and 1989, Eugene de Kock was involved in the killing of at least 49 people. From 1990 to 1993, he killed another 16.
00:41:46:11 Ten years at Vlakplaas, 65 people killed, yet, we may never know how many more were killed by his weapons in the townships.
00:42:10:23 Super: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
Super: Copenhagen, Denmark
W/O Willie Norje, a former Vlakplaas policeman was in Denmark on a secret mission, to confess his complicity in a series of murders and assassinations. But, he wasn’t alone. Two other Vlakplaas policement were also in Denmark, Chappies Klopper and Brood van Heerden.
The story of how the three killers came to Denmark started in the early 1994, when Chappies Klopper decided to talk. He spoke to 2 human rights activists.
00:42:47:04 Super: Ivor Jenkins Director: IDASA
“I’ve asked him why he came to talk. I think it is a mixture of things. One is definitely a feeling that he felt, that De Kock left him in the cold and has basically thrown him out and so he was not in the inner circle of De Kock anymore.
00:43:09:17 Super: Bea Roberts, Co-Ordinator IDASA
“He was motivated by a strong revenge thing De Kock. Because De Kock has held a gun against his head, and he hated his guts, and I think he really wanted to see him nailed.”
00:43:24:22 “The breaking point came when De Kock held a gun against his head on the way back from Oudtshoorn or – somewhere -, he says at that point it dawned on him that De Kock would be willing to kill him.”
00:43:49:06 Chappies Klopper was taken to Denmark. He was followed by Willie Nortje and Brood van Heerden. Once there the men told their stories to a special team of state advocates and senior policemen. Ivor Jenkins and Bea Roberts had to babysit the men for seven weeks.
00:44:10:12 Super: Ivor Jenkins
“Extremely nervous – they’re in a foreign country, they have no idea how long they’re going to stay there. They have no idea if they’re going to be there for one week or ten years. They were wrecks – totally. They started to giggle at any time. When the Attorney-General or some of the people who were taking down their statements read back their statements to them, they had nervous giggles, about hearing who they are. So that was a – I think a very hard experience for them, which they had to deal with emotionally.
00:44:50:01 While the three men were spilling the beans in Denmark, South Africa was approaching it’s first democratic election in April 1994. Eugene de Kock continues to flood the townships with weapons, and also offered his arsenal to the right-wing. Riaan van Rensburg was, at the time, working for Conservative Afrikaner leader General Constand Viljoen.
“From the impression that I have, yes, he was ready and getting even more ready to cause major upheavals all over the country. According to what he told me.
00:45:32:05 Super: Major Craig Williamson
“Well, he told me he knew he was going to be arrested and he seemed prepared to go to trial and see what would happen.”
00:45:42:20 “What did he suggest, what had to be done?”
00:45:45:15 Super: Riaan van Rensburg
“That there should be an armed conflict, that we must get our people in place, he’ll get this in place. We must work together and go into a total war situation.”
00:45:56:02 Super: Riaan Stander
‘What! … he was prepared, and he was waiting for his arrest to take place. For the last ten days before his arrest, he was walking around with his little briefcase, and some clothes and some toothbrushes. So he was in actual fact waiting for Ivan Human to pick him up.”
00:46:19:18 “General Viljoen and I left and we weren’t even out of his driveway when General Viljoen turned around to me and said ‘Look this is one person that we most definitely will not be working with’ and the message was left, ‘Don’t phone us, we’ll phone you.”
00:46:36:24 Super: Wim Cornelius, Lawyer and Friend
“And he was depressed, he felt depressed, and expressed that feeling to me as well. He brought me a letter – it was the 5th of April 1994 – with the bowtie they wear to formal functions of the police, and he donated this to me and he said that, and he wrote the following letter. "Wim, ek het hierdie strikdas slegs eenkeer in my lewe aangehad na ‘n amptlekike funksie, dit is ‘n strikdas wat saamgaan met ons amptelike uniforms. Ek dink jy sal dit beter kan gebruik. Groete , Eugene” (Wim, I wore this bowtie only once in my life to an official function, it is the bowtie that goes with our official uniforms. I think you can use it better. Greetings Eugene)
00:47:18:01 A week after the election, Eugene de Kock was arrested. He was charged with 121 crimes including eight murders, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, kidnapping and fraud.
For 18 months more than 80 state witnesses testified against him. Many were former
duration 50 min
00:00:59:00 In: Music
00:01:25:00 “Eugene Alexander de Kock, you have been found guilty of the murder of 6 people, and I hereby sentence you to 212 years imprisonment.”
00:01:49:00 For 18 months the Pretoria Supreme Court heard of a tale of murder, ambushes and assassinations, planned, master-minded and executed by Colonel Eugene de Kock. Like the 4 people in this minibus, murdered by De Kock and his men in 1992.
Eugene de Kock is a highly decorated policeman, who became apartheids’ most effective assassin – a man called “Prime Evil”.
00:02:20:15 “He is a monster.”
00:02:22:02: “He doesn’t value life.”
00:02:25:05 “He was just a killing machine.”
00:02:27:00 “A very violent war machine.”
00:02:30:00 “To him a black life meant nothing.”
00:02:33:20 “Eugene is a man that’s an expert in his field.”
00:02:37:00 “I can tell you,, he’s a snake.”
00:02:39:00 “Boof” – ‘cause that immediately drew the picture – “De Kock the Killer.”
00:02:44:19 “He can do the job.”
00:02:47:05 “Because one minute he can act normal, the next minute he’s completely insane.”
00:02:52:20 Not long ago, Eugene de Kock was still one of the most powerful and feared policemen, Commander of the police death squad, based at a farm called “Vlakplaas.”
A man who could decide who would live and who would die.
00:03:23:00 Super: Sept. 1985 The Border between Swaziland and South Africa.
A group of security policemen bring a young man to a plantation and murder him. Japie Maponya became a victim of Eugene de Kock and his men, only days before he was due to get married to the mother of his child.
00:03:39:15 Super: Daniel Maponya. Brother of Japie.
“Japie – he was sweet to everybody, advisor to everybody, loved everybody, church goer – he was alright in his mind. There was no problem about Japie, that is why I know he felt he must marry …………..Maureen.”
00:03:57:00 Japie Maponya was innocent, but he had a brother Oderele who was an ANC soldier. The police were looking for Oderele and therefore the whole Mapnya family as harassed.
00:04:12:15 Super: Danie Maponya
“My father – the police, they were harassing my father – every day – take him to the veld to ask him the questions – an old man – an old man like my father, and I think it’s create a sickness in my father.”
00:04:27:08 Daniel Maponya, Japie’s eldest brother was also detained.
00:04:33:12 “They just take me out, they put my head inside the water, after that they pull me out, they say “Just tell me – tell us truth”. “say what I must tell you, you can do what you want”. They say “ons gaan jou dood maak. (We’re going to kill you). Ek sê “Ja, julle kan my doodmaak, julle weet vir wat.” ( I say you can kill me, you know what for ). Hulle maak daai sak vas, nie dieselfde soos the eerste nie. (They fasten that sack, not like the first time) They said to me “Now you are going to die.”
00:05:05:11 And then it was Japie’s turn. He was kidnapped and taken to Vlakplaas. He didn’t know where his brother was, but the Vlakplaas men couldn’t let him go. Maybe he could identify them again, therefore he had to die.
00:05:23:17 “They start to torture Japie in Vlakplaas, torture him with many things, guns, hit him, took shambok to Japie”.
00:05:37:15 According to evidence in court, Vlakplaas took Maponya to the border with Swaziland, where De Kock hit him with a spade and buried him in a shallow grave.
00:05:48:07 “When they start to say they shoot him, the gun jammed, they changed the gun they take another gun, it didn’t work. They felt that they must take a spade……. you see, it’s how they get Japie he must die.”
00:06:05:05 Super: Lt Peter Casselton Colleague and friend.
“Is there a kind way to kill someone? You know, normally killings are ….. you know it happens quickly, you know, you don’t have time to go and find a lethal injection and lie the boy down on the bed, and give him an injection you know, if there’s a spade handy and you want to kill somebody you better go for it with the spade, you know.
00:06:26:10 “Now, we have told them that they must bring the body of Japie ………... De Kock must know there is the body.”
00:06:33:19 “Why do you want the body of Japie?”
00:06:35:08 “We just want to bury the body by ourselves. The whole family think like that including Maureen too.”
00:06:35:08 “We just want to bury the body by ourselves. The whole family think like that including Maureen too.”
00:06:42:16 Super: Lt Peter Casselton
“You can’t feel anything. You know, if you, if you treat Aids patients, you can’t feel pain if someone ties, you know, that’s part of life, you know, if you feel pain, you can’t have the job anymore. Eugene is a soldier, he’s a killer, you know, and that is what he was taught by the South African Government.”
00:07:02:09 Super: Daniel Maponya
“Japie was a man. He loose his family because of De kock, because of the police, the top police, Japie loose his family.”
00:07:15:23 Super: Major Craig Williamson, Former Security Policeman and friend of Eugune.
“It’s one of the dichotomies of man, that in fact, perhaps because you’re a loving father, because you love your people and because you love your country, you’re prepared to kill for it. You may also have to be prepared to die for it.”
00:07:33:22 “That man he must suffer. How, I don’t know, but he must suffer, and God is going to punish him, that’s what I’m sure of.”
00:07:48:12 The Vlakplaas unit emblem, the Honey Badger – said to be invincible and invisible.
00:07:56:12 Super: Sgt. Leon Flores Security Policeman: Vlakplaas
“The Honey Badger is a very tough creature – hard, and we thought that we were a tough and hard team.”
00:08:06:01 These were the men of Vlakplaas, People with nicknames like “Chappies” (chewing gum), “Brood” (bread), “Balletjies” (balls), “Duiwel” (devil), “snorre” (moustache) and of course “Prime Evil” himself. De Kock’s friend, convicted killer and former member of the Defence Forces’ Civil Co-Operation Bureau, Ferdi Barnard, gave him his nickname.
00:08:30:16 Super: Ferdi Barnard Vlakplaas Agent
“There was a program on children’s TV where, I don’t remember whether it was with the Ninja Turtles, something like that, but there was a guy there that was a bad guy that was “Prime Evil.”
00:08:42:18 Because of his poor eyesight, De Kock was also called “Brille” (spectacles).
00:08:52:00 Super: Ferdi Barnard
“Always said that thick glasses (spectacles) is the biggest one I”ve ever seen in my life, ‘cause you must see that man shoot with glasses like that. I’m not talking about shooting people but his ability with firearms and that, you cannot believe, I said to him “That is the biggest I’ve ever seen – that glasses and that.”
00:09:07:24 “How would you describe a day in the life of Vlakplaas?”
00:09:14:06 “Nice.”
00:09:15:13 Super: Lt Peter Casselton
“Very easy – drive to work at 9:00, park the car, sit around, do nothing really constructive. Lunch time, buy meat, braai, drink, and go home. That is the typical day at Vlakplaas.”
00:09:38:01 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout Security Policeman: Vlakplaas
“But here from 1 – 2 o’clock, everybody’s jumping for the bar and that’s were the thing starts. Where all these funny stories came from, we’re going to do this, we’re going to use this method, we’re going to do this.”
00:10:10:17 “We used to go to parties at the Palarus Hotel, with hookers and strippers, Eugene used to pay for everything. It was a good life.”
00:10:22:04 Super: Sgt Leon Flores
“We used to hire the Ladies Bar, like one night for instance, and it was just our members, no females, just males, and we’ll have a stripper, which “Brood”, Dries van Heerden – known as Brood (bread), brought from Johannesburg. And it used to be a wild drinking party.”
00:10:39:04 “Who paid for it?”
00:10:42:15 Who paid for it? I presume it came out of Police Funds.”
00:10:46:23 “Was there a lot of drinking going on at Vlakplaas?”
00:10:48:14 “Not a lot – continuously.”
00:10:52:17 Super: Sgt Leon Flores
“And every new person, or visitor to the farm, had to down a wine glass of that, and the garlic we called “Leeu Tande” (lion teeth). So the glass would have 10 or 12 pieces of lion teeth in, filled up with this prohibited concoction, - that’s what it is, - and you had to down this. 09% of the people who downed that, ran out and puked immediately. Those who kept it in never had friends for a week, they never had a wife for a week, I presume,, as well, ‘cause you honked of pure garlic. Our nickname at Head Office was “The Knoffel Squad” (the garlic squad).
00:11:29:08 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout
“What we did there, I don’t think any sober or normal person, could perform those duties. It’s impossible, you must be intoxicated or be in a heavy plug”.
00:11:44:02 “But you know, this is soldier fraternity. You would swear each other, and one oke would sommer hit another (one guy would just hit another) – it’s a rough area, that man comes from Koevoet (Military Special Force). Those people you don’t play with them, you know.”
00:11:59:23 Super: Warrant Officer Joe Mamasela: Security Policeman Vlakplaas
Too much drinking, they even had to build their own pub at Vlakplaas, they drank like fishes, and when they drank, they started beating the Askaries (black security policemen) up.”
00:12:11:20 Super: Lt. Peter Casselton
“They were respectful only to Eugene. He controlled all of them there. They were very respectful to him. And if they stepped out of line, he used to beat them.
Physically beat them. And the others used to stand and watch, and they used to agree with him.
00:12:30:13 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout
“Eugene had this sjambok and used to use this thing plenty times. I watched – on the Askaries – he used to hammer them with sjambok, really.”
00:12:41:04 Super: Sgt Leon Flores
“He never beat them like you beat a dog. But he used to, like you would say, “tug” (punish) him, like you would with you child. I mean, he had to keep that standard of discipline there.”
00:12:53:02 In 1989 Askari – Moses Netlahong walked into the Vlakplaas pub, and told Eugene de Kock that he had lost his pistol. De Kock broke a snooker stick over his head in what was described in court at a “killing frenzy”. The men attacked him – he was tubed and killed.
00:13:14:23 “How do you ‘tube’ somebody?”
00:13:16:20 “OK, it’s very simple. You put him down on his stomach, and handcuff him, you put your knees on his back, you stabilize and just take the tube and pull it over his face, in other words – you suffocate the person.
00:13:30:00 “Well, the first time I saw De Kock, I knew that I had to do with a person that suffers from multiple personality disorders, in other words, he was just a mad maniac. He was one moment extremely happy and cheerful, and the next he was extremely aggressive and he beat up people until a point of unconcious.”
00:13:55:19 “When you ‘tube’ any person, normally you’ll wait until you see he wet his pants, then you know he’s going through the gate upstairs, then you leave him, and the minute he …..(draws last breath), then you ‘tube’ him again.”
00:14:11:03 Super: Riaan Stander Former Policeman and friend
“He could rule them by fear, and that is really the way that he ruled, and controlled his group, was by fear. So …………”
00:14:22:20 “Why where they so scared of Eugene de Kock?”
00:14:25:09 “They knew that he would have taken them out.
00:14:28:23 “Just take Brood van Heerden, if De Kock calls him, Brood would run towards him.
“Ja Majoor” (yes major), and then he would start chewing his nails, in front of De Kock – like this. You can look at Brood’s fingernails – he used to chow it, so what does it tell you? He was scared of him?”
00:14:47:10 “Did he ever hit you?”
00:14:50:00 “Yes, one night………”
00:14:52:00 “He took a swipe at me but I jumped away, I ducked.”
00:14:55:05 “Grompie – Fok – Fok de Kock. (Grumpy – Fuck – Fuck de Kock)
00:14:56:12 “You don’t tackle this guy without gloves.”
00:14:58:18 “Doesn’t the words, with all respect – Fok Fok de Kock say everything? He would shout and swear, became very upset ….”
00:15:06:23 “He threatened to kill me, and throw my body into the sea.”
00:15:10:06 “We had, our run ins,”
00:15:12:18 “I feared for my life”.
00:15:14:13 “But he had very devious ways of getting to you and ingenious ways of planning thing, that nobody else could think of.”
00:15:25:03 The men at Vlakplaas where not only raucus party goers, they were also famous for their “Spanbou” or team building expeditions.
This one was held at Sudwana Bay in Northern Natal.
00:16:06:09 “Spanbou” is usually 4 days, it’s nice, and government expenses, who doesn’t ………………... everyone does it. One big party. Play rugby competitions, get intoxicated, and wrestle, and stuff like that.”
00:16:19:21 In this instance, the men were joined, by General Krappies (crabs) Engelbrecht. He was the unit’s so-called “Sweeper”. The cop who had to cover up. He was implicated in court in some of the charges against De Kock.
00:16:35:15 Super: Lt. Peter Casselton
“They were sitting on their arses, in the offices, and he was doing the work in the field. And all the Generals like someone like that, because it gives them the credit, and they don’t have to put their arse on the line.”
00:16:50:15 The end of the eightees saw Eugene de Kock at the peak of this career. He had already been decorated for bravery, outstanding service and combating terrorism.
In December 1985 he received the Police Cross for bravery for this raid into Lesotho. De Kock and his men killed 7 people in cold blood. They received their medals from former Police Commissioner, General Johan van der Merwe. To this day the General denies any knowledge of the existence of police death squads.
Eugene de Kock was charged with only one murder committed between 1983, when he arrived at Vlakplaas, and the end of the 80’s.
Our investigation had shown however, that he was involved in the killing of at least 49 people.
00:18:10:11 As the sun set over the 80’s, this country was not only at the dawn of a new political era, but in the dark world of death squads. The unthinkable was about to happen.
A former Vlakplaas commander spoke:
00:18:32:03 “A claim by a former police captain that he led a hit squad, that eliminated government opponents has been firmly rejected by former police commissioner, General Johan Coetzee.
In an article published in the “Vrye Weekblad” (Afrikaans newspaper), Coetzee referred to hit squad members as Askaries. According to General Coetzee, former terrorists who joined the Security Police assisted in the identification of infiltrating ANC and PAC members. Praising their work, General Coetzee denied that the Askaries had ever been ordered to assassinate, adding, and we quote: “just the thought of such a squad, would defeat all the police stands for.”
00:19:11:24 Coetzee went into hiding in Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, where he would spend the next four years in exile.
00:19:20:18 Super: Capt. Dirk Coetzee, former Commander: Vlakplaas
“I can tell you in ’89 when they called me all those names of a “liar”, “unstable” “mentally upset because of my sugar diabetes”, I never felt so lonely, so deserted, so out in the cold.”
00:19:36:01 Super: Warrant Officer Joe Mamasela
“There was some ripples of shock, shock waves, you know, he shook the whole security apparatus of Vlakplaas to the roots. You know, Commanders, Generals, Brigadiers, they were running ‘helter skelter’, like beheaded chickens.”
0019:55:20 At Vlakplaas there was chaos. After a decade, the most secret and covert police unit was exposed.
For the first time there was conclusive evidence – the apartheid state had murdered.
00:20:12:13 Super: Riaan Stander
“Eugene was spitting blood. Eugene was looking for the right person to go and kill Dirk Coetzee. He approached me directly, ………. at the offices in 1991 or beginning ;92 he asked me directly if I don’t have the means to eliminate Dirk Coetzee.
00:20:39:07 Super: Ronald Bezuidenhout
“He hated him terribly – he hated him because at that moment all the people, our colleagues in the bard, they decided that we must get rid of Dirk.”
00:20:55:14 An explosives expert at Vlakplaas built a bomb into the earphones of this walkman cassette player.
Before the bomb was sent off the Coetzee in Zambia, a prototype was tested on a pig’s head.
00:21:10:15 “The earphones were put on the pig’s head – right - and the walkman were activated.”
00:21:21:20 “And what happened to the pig’s head?”
00:21:23:00 “Holy sherbert, there was hardly anything left – it almost looked like minced meat.”
00:21:30:20 Super: Dirk Coetzee
“You know, when I left the country, my household broke up, my kids had to leave the country, we moved 38 times in exile to stay ahead of the government-sanctioned hit squads, Eugene de Kock’s efforts to try to get rid of me.”
00:21:46:22 “Everybody was waiting for the results. They were waiting, really, and they were anxious to get the results because they really thought Coetzee was going to fall for this trick. And everybody, all of us were waiting to hear the results if this guy is dead or not.”
00:22:06:18 As De Kock and his men were plotting the death of Coetzee, Vlakplaas faced another threat. State President F W de Klerk appointed the Harms Commission of Inquiry to investigate death squads.
00:22:21:17 “Did you lie to the Harms Commission?”
00:22:23:11 “Oh I lied, I lied, we all lied from Cape to Cairo, it was shambles.”
00:22:2823 Super: Major Crag Williamson
“They believed totally the nonsense that was fed to them. I mean, the whole Harms Commission was a farce. it was fed manure and it was kept in the dark and it grew the type of mushrooms it was supposed to grow.”
00:22:45:24 Super: W/O Joe Mamasela
“We were told to lie, it was instructions from the Generals, we should lie, there was no way we could compromise the police. We were told in all certainty that we should lie.”
00:22:59:24 While the men at Vlakplaas continued to lie to the Harms Commission, De Kock and his squad attacked a house in Botswana. They shot and killed a PAC activist, his wife and two children.
00:23:17:01 De Kock and his superiors would stop at nothing to hide their crimes. Even if it meant another murder.
This is the grave of Constable Brian Ngqulunga. For 9 years, one of the units most trusted members.
00:23:33:04 “Brian – the whole thing shook him to the marrow. It disturbed him. He was a completely devastated person. He was a pathetic sight. You know, he was frail, he drank too much. The whole exposure into the media, worked on his mind.”
00:23:53:08 Super: Riaan Stander
“Eugene never boasted, or he never talked about that. But yes, I knew, and he would mention that he had to eliminate someone because of the fact that the person was policing a threat, and threatened to go out and talk about certain things.
00:24:11:02 Concern was raised about Brian Ngqulunga’s behavior, and his drinking problem. And that he’s becoming progressively agitated and nervous. And they were afraid that in this condition will jeopardize the police’s case in the Harms Commission. And, de Kock suggested that Brian should be killed, he should be eliminated.”
00:24:37:11 On the 20th of July 1990, Brian Ngqulunga was shot dead in the township of Shoshonguwe near Pretoria. His grave is on a hill overlooking Vlakplaas.
He was given an official police funeral. Nine months after his appointment, Mr Justice Louis Harms released his findings. - “There was no police death squads” he said. Dirk Coetzee had lied.
Nearly six months after Eugene de Kock and his men had sent a parcel bomb to Zambia, Dirk Coetzee received a message to collect it. Vlakplaas gave the name of the sender as Bheki Mlangeni, Coetzee’s lawyer in Johannesburg.
Coetzee was suspicious, and refused to accept the parcel. It was therefore sent back to Johannesburg and delivered to Bheki.
00:25:32:12 Super: Seipati Mlangeni, wife of Bheki
It was a small box. On one of the cassettes it was written “Evidence Hit Squad. That’s all what I saw. And we went home, and it was around eight o’clock, he took off his jacket and took the earphones which were already provided. he put them on his ears, then he switched on …. all what I saw after, I just heard a big bang.”
I really don’t know why this happened, I mean for the person who had never killed anybody, for a person who has been fighting for his people’s dignity peacefully and a person who had never carried a weapon to be killed like that. It was just terrible.
00:27:06:24 According to evidence in court, when Eugene de Kock heard that Bheki Mlangeni and not Dirk Coetzee had been killeld, he said “It did not matter, Bheki was anyway a member of the ANC.”
00:27:20:22 Super: Seipati Mlangeni
“Eugene de Kock to me is like a vicious animal. He is an animal that will not look twice, I don’t know if I could say, at it’s prey. he is a cruel person.”
00:27:57:02 Super: MURDER, MONEY AND PLEASURE
Super: 26 March 1992, Nelspruit, Eastern Transvaal.
Murder and robbery detectives investigate a crime scene. Four suspected bank robbers, travelling in a minibus have just been shot dead by this group of policemen from unit C10, based at Vlakplaas.
This police video shows the men and their commander, Colonel Eugene de Kock, at the crime scene.
They said they shot in self defence when they wanted to arrest the suspects and were fired on.
00:28:33:22 Super: Ferdi Barnard.
“I knew about the operation, they they were going to go down with the bank robbers – I knew about that. After that I physically sat with him, the next day and two after that. And not De Kock, but Chappies Klopper and some of the other members told me how they shot and how the one guy was blown out of the kombi (minibus). And still in great detail with a lot of laughing and that, told the oke (guy) was on fire, he was crawling and don’t know good work – like this – or bye-bye – or whatever.
00:29:07:00 Vlakplaas did not shoot in self defence. They lured their victims into a deadly ambush and fired 220 bullets at them. And then planted weapons in the mini-bus and set it alight.
Afterwards, they claimed the reward for the weapons, and paid themselves a cash bonus.
Death had become profitable.
00:29:45:14 The early 90’s. Vlakplaas was exposed and the ANC unbanned. The war between the ANC and the Government was over.
Eugene de Kock and his men were given a new role. The anti-terrorist unit was now fighting organized crime. In the process De Kock surrounded himself with criminals and eventually became one himself.
00:30:12:16 Super: Corrie Goosen, Vlakplaas informer
“We worked on cocaine, weapon smuggling and that – Swaziland – all the states around South Africa.”
00:30:22:16 Meet Corrie Goosen, Vlakplaas agent and convicted diamond smuggler.
00:30:30:18 “I was caught for illegal diamond dealing, he heard of that and he was personally involved solving the case for me.”
00:30:43:07 And then off course, Ferdi Barnard. Convicted murderer, another of De Kock’s agents.
00:30:50:20 Super: Ferdi Barnard
I’m very connected in the underworld and the crime-world in Johannesburg, and he came to me and we spoke and I put certain informants at his disposal, took them around I went out with him at night. I gave him access to certain places where the criminal elements frequent. And then it became a daily thing.”
00:31:14:03 “Well, we also had other activities, and….”
00:31:20:24 “Like what?”
00:31:22:00 “Well – like diamond smuggling.”
00:31:27:04 We would also, if the right thing comes along, I’d say to him: ‘look, I’ve got you a buyer for this or for that. I’m one of those people that don’t believe all the diamonds belong to Mr. Harry Oppenheimer.”
If it comes along – I don’t have to rob it – and it comes along and I think there’s a feasible option, and I can make some money, I would. I’m not saying that’s what we did, but things like that.”
00:31:54:00 Acting on information from Ferdi Barnard, Vlakplaas raided a group of diamond dealers. A far cry from their usual routine of hunting down political enemies.
00:32:06:12 “De Kock and his team came in there like they were hitting a terrorist infiltration house. I just heard people screaming inside and they broke the doors off and they ran all of those people into the ground with guns against their head, pulled hair out of their heads, and stuff like that. And the poor Captain from the Pietersburg Diamond Branch was like a nervous wreck.”
00:32:48:23 Goosen and Barnard were not only at the forefront of De Kock’s crime combating operations, they also managed a brothel for Military Intelligence in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
00:33:00:18 Super: Corrie Goosen
“Well, we’ve got the best girls. Sometimes we pay them a thousand rand per night. It was selected through – all over South Africa.
00:33:13:15 “Was this brothel ever frequented by members of Vlakplaas?”
00:33:17:23 “Yes, I would invite them there, all of them, we’ll just drink and braai (barbecue), tell each other stories of some that you know. You know what okes (men) are like.”
00:33:32:18 “Yes, they loved the women, I mean, if you saw them they’re the best.”
00:33:37:11 “Did De Kock ever use some of the prostitutes?”
00:33:39:18 No, he wasn’t into that business.”
00:33:42:08 “Who used the prostitutes?”
00:33:43:11 “Agh, all these guys working under him, and some of the military guys.”
00:33:50:10 “Did they have to pay?”
00:33:52:09 “No not really, sometimes they feel they like to pay the girls, to think you know, but they didn’t have to pay them – military was paying for all the girls.”
00:34:06:16 The killing of Askaries continued. Goodwill Sikhakhane threatened to expose the dirty secrets of his security police masters. Eugene de Kock instructed W/O Willie Nortje to kill him. Sikhakhane was brought to a plantation near Greytown, Kwazulu-Natal where he was shot dead.”
00:34:30:17 Super: W/O Joe Mamasela
“Esmarhema was killed because he is not trusted, he asked too many questions. Jackson in Port Elizabeth was killed because he wanted to talk, he was disillusioned. Martin Mpufu was killed, he was disillusioned. Bramos died because he knew too much.”
00:34:56:00 In one of the most dramatic moments during the De Kock murder trial, Sikhakhane’s skull was handed in at court. Nearly four years after Vlakplaas had shot and buried him, investigators dug up his skeleton and charged De Kock with his murder.
Eugene de Kock, as powerful as ever, in his new role of fighting crime.
00:35:22:01 Super: Riaan Stander
“I don’t think there’s anyone whose been involved in more contracts and killing in South Africa than Eugene de Kock. And, yes, it is just logically it must have changed his whole insight, his whole personality, his whole value of life.”
00:35:43:14 The previous night 45 men, women and children were massacred by Inkatha Impis armed with spears, pangas, sticks, rifles and pistols. It was the biggest massacre in the history of this country, bringing the peace process to a temporary standstill. The attack took place at a time when Vlakplaas was arming Inkatha.
Although de Kock denies any complicity in the matter, his weapons could have been used in the attack. There might even be more direct involvement.
00:36:24:00 “They trained the Zulus, which I knew for a fact, that they trained Inkatha members in the use of fire-arms, petrol bombs, explosives, killings, and they were then sent out from the secret houses which they operated from the East Rand.”
00:36:42:08 “Like Boipatong, he would supply the weapons and after that they were signing the weapons back. There was only two guns lost in that situation.”
“In Boipatong?”
“That’s right.”
“There were two guns lost?”
“Two shotguns.”
“”Two shotguns that was given to Inkatha?”
“That’s right.”
“Why did they give the weapons to Inkatha for the Boipatong massacre?”
00:37:06:01 “The ANC – too protect them against the ANC.”
“A lot of people were killed at the Boipatong massacre?”
“That’s right.”
“Did De Kock ever say anything about the massacre at Boipatong?”
“Ja, he said at one stage, it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I mean, they were only given guns to protect themselves.”
00:37:27:05 “Do you think he felt bad about it?”
“Yes, definitely. He had a sad saying about that.”
00:37:35:24 By 1992 Eugene de Kock was deeply involved in common crime. Hundreds of thousands of rands were stolen from the police secret fund and divided between the Vlakplaas men. Instead of fighting arms smuggling, De Kock became a gun-runner himself.
00:37:54:24 “Were you ever involved in selling weapons with De Kock?”
00:37:58:03 “No.”
00:38:04:20 We traced one of De Kock’s attempted deals back to a Johannesburg arms dealer.
00:38:11:00 “I was given this by De Kock so that we could – you know, give him the big order for 200 pieces. And other stuff that we were looking for, for 1 of our clients in Africa.”
00:38:21:23 “How much money did he want for the machine pistol?”
“500 hundred rand a piece”
“Why didn’t you buy it?”
“cause it would have been illegal to buy a consignment of weapons, that I know, would have been stolen, because I can remember the way it was handled, no paper work.”
00:38:39:09 The arms dealer was warned not to deal with De Kock. When he told him so, he received death threats.
00:38:47:09 “We sent him a message back, we were able to get a dead dog from the SPCA, and left in the veld for a while, so it was nice and crawling with maggots and we had it delivered to his home with a message from us. After that he never contacted us – he – all the harrassments stopped.
00:39:16:07 Captain Chappies Klopper, a member of the Vlakplaas Inner-Circle. Men who had killed and murdered with Eugene de Kock. And W/O Willie Norje, confidant and friend.
00:39:33:17 “He assaulted Chappies in a certain hotel in Berea because he thought that Chappies had an affair with a lady from maybe a Xhosa or Venda tribe, and it wasn’t - to him it wasn’t correct.”
00:39:56:05 De Kock told Willie Nortje to kill Chappies Klopper. Chappies asked his friend, Ferdi Barnard for help.
00:40:05:19 Super: Ferdi Barnard
“He said that Willie Nortje came to him, Chappies, and said to him that De Kock wanted Willie to put Chappies away.”
00:40:15:15 “Eugene became very unstable, very paranoid, towards the end.
00:40:21:16 “And then Chappies asked you to kill De Kock?”
00:40:23:19 “He said to me De Kock wants him killed, I must kill De Kock – he offered me cocaine and a cash amount.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I said to him – you mad.”
00:40:35:11 In April 1993, Eugene de Kock’s 27 year career in the police came to an end when Vlakplaas was disbanded.
State President FW de Klerk approved the pay off of 17,5 million rand for 84 Vlakplaas policemen who took early retirement.
De Kock received more than a million rand.
00:41:01:13 “They gave me too much money, they gave me a sum of 400 000 plus.”
“Why did they give you so much money?”
“I think it was to keep me – to shut my big mouth.”
00:41:15:09 Between the years 1983 and 1989, Eugene de Kock was involved in the killing of at least 49 people. From 1990 to 1993, he killed another 16.
00:41:46:11 Ten years at Vlakplaas, 65 people killed, yet, we may never know how many more were killed by his weapons in the townships.
00:42:10:23 Super: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
Super: Copenhagen, Denmark
W/O Willie Norje, a former Vlakplaas policeman was in Denmark on a secret mission, to confess his complicity in a series of murders and assassinations. But, he wasn’t alone. Two other Vlakplaas policement were also in Denmark, Chappies Klopper and Brood van Heerden.
The story of how the three killers came to Denmark started in the early 1994, when Chappies Klopper decided to talk. He spoke to 2 human rights activists.
00:42:47:04 Super: Ivor Jenkins Director: IDASA
“I’ve asked him why he came to talk. I think it is a mixture of things. One is definitely a feeling that he felt, that De Kock left him in the cold and has basically thrown him out and so he was not in the inner circle of De Kock anymore.
00:43:09:17 Super: Bea Roberts, Co-Ordinator IDASA
“He was motivated by a strong revenge thing De Kock. Because De Kock has held a gun against his head, and he hated his guts, and I think he really wanted to see him nailed.”
00:43:24:22 “The breaking point came when De Kock held a gun against his head on the way back from Oudtshoorn or – somewhere -, he says at that point it dawned on him that De Kock would be willing to kill him.”
00:43:49:06 Chappies Klopper was taken to Denmark. He was followed by Willie Nortje and Brood van Heerden. Once there the men told their stories to a special team of state advocates and senior policemen. Ivor Jenkins and Bea Roberts had to babysit the men for seven weeks.
00:44:10:12 Super: Ivor Jenkins
“Extremely nervous – they’re in a foreign country, they have no idea how long they’re going to stay there. They have no idea if they’re going to be there for one week or ten years. They were wrecks – totally. They started to giggle at any time. When the Attorney-General or some of the people who were taking down their statements read back their statements to them, they had nervous giggles, about hearing who they are. So that was a – I think a very hard experience for them, which they had to deal with emotionally.
00:44:50:01 While the three men were spilling the beans in Denmark, South Africa was approaching it’s first democratic election in April 1994. Eugene de Kock continues to flood the townships with weapons, and also offered his arsenal to the right-wing. Riaan van Rensburg was, at the time, working for Conservative Afrikaner leader General Constand Viljoen.
“From the impression that I have, yes, he was ready and getting even more ready to cause major upheavals all over the country. According to what he told me.
00:45:32:05 Super: Major Craig Williamson
“Well, he told me he knew he was going to be arrested and he seemed prepared to go to trial and see what would happen.”
00:45:42:20 “What did he suggest, what had to be done?”
00:45:45:15 Super: Riaan van Rensburg
“That there should be an armed conflict, that we must get our people in place, he’ll get this in place. We must work together and go into a total war situation.”
00:45:56:02 Super: Riaan Stander
‘What! … he was prepared, and he was waiting for his arrest to take place. For the last ten days before his arrest, he was walking around with his little briefcase, and some clothes and some toothbrushes. So he was in actual fact waiting for Ivan Human to pick him up.”
00:46:19:18 “General Viljoen and I left and we weren’t even out of his driveway when General Viljoen turned around to me and said ‘Look this is one person that we most definitely will not be working with’ and the message was left, ‘Don’t phone us, we’ll phone you.”
00:46:36:24 Super: Wim Cornelius, Lawyer and Friend
“And he was depressed, he felt depressed, and expressed that feeling to me as well. He brought me a letter – it was the 5th of April 1994 – with the bowtie they wear to formal functions of the police, and he donated this to me and he said that, and he wrote the following letter. "Wim, ek het hierdie strikdas slegs eenkeer in my lewe aangehad na ‘n amptlekike funksie, dit is ‘n strikdas wat saamgaan met ons amptelike uniforms. Ek dink jy sal dit beter kan gebruik. Groete , Eugene” (Wim, I wore this bowtie only once in my life to an official function, it is the bowtie that goes with our official uniforms. I think you can use it better. Greetings Eugene)
00:47:18:01 A week after the election, Eugene de Kock was arrested. He was charged with 121 crimes including eight murders, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, kidnapping and fraud.
For 18 months more than 80 state witnesses testified against him. Many were former