Frank Dutton

Frank Kennan Dutton SCOB (20 May 1949 – 20 January 2022) was a South African police officer.[1] The dominant theme in his career was the investigation and prosecution of people guilty of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during South Africa's apartheid era. Dutton's work took place in South Africa as well as abroad. In South Africa, he helped expose the apartheid military's destabilization machinery, and later headed the Scorpions, the country's elite police force. He also worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Frank Dutton
Personal details
Born(1949-05-20)20 May 1949
Warmbaths,Transvaal, South Africa
Died20 January 2022(2022-01-20) (aged 72)
Hillcrest, South Africa
CitizenshipSouth African citizenship

Uncovering the Third Force

Trust Feed massacre

Dutton, with his teammate Lwandle Wilson Magadla, solved the case of the Trust Feed massacre, a massacre in a village of supporters of the African National Congress in the township Trust Feed in Natal in December 1988. Taking on the system they worked for, Dutton and Magadla sent a prominent policeman Brian Victor Mitchell to prison for this in 1992, the first senior policeman during the anti-apartheid struggle to be tried and sentenced.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Subsequently, his superiors Ronnie van der Westhuizen and Christo Marx discouraged him and dissolved his unit. But Dutton continued to expose the involvement of the apartheid-era South African Police hit squads so-called "Third Force" involvement of the South African Defence Force in destabilising large areas of South Africa.

Eugene de Kock

In 1992, on the recommendation of Jacob Zuma, Richard Goldstone appointed Dutton the chief investigator for the Goldstone Commission, a judicial commission looking into political violence. This led to the exposure of the workings of the Third Force, and the imprisonment of security police colonel Eugene de Kock, known as "Prime Evil". Goldstone said of Dutton: "He is a man without strong political feelings but with a deep belief in the need for complete integrity in police investigations, regardless of the consequences."[8]

Magnus Malan

In 1995, Dutton became the head of the Investigation Task Unit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[9][10][11][12][13] He investigated and arrested the former defence minister Magnus Malan and 10 former military officials in connection with the 1987 KwaMakhutha massacre.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

Renamo affair

Dutton exposed the shadowy relationship between the special forces of the South African Defence Force and Renamo rebels in Mozambique. He showed this as continuing for many years after the non-aggression Nkomati Accord was signed between South Africa and Mozambique in 1984. Three of the accused – Brigadier Cornelius van Niekerk, Brigadier John More and Colonel Cornelius van Tonder – were directly involved in coordinating support for Renamo in direct violation of the Nkomati Accord.[20]

Investigations in the former Yugoslavia

In 1994, on the recommendation of Richard Goldstone, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Dutton successfully applied for a post with the United Nations in the investigation section of the Office of the Prosecutor for that tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands.[21][22][23] In this role, he worked with detectives from more than 90 countries and proved himself to be a world-class detective. In 1995, he was promoted to head of the court's investigating mission in Sarajevo. He was again promoted to Commander of Field Operations in Kosovo in 1999, when Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka asked him to return to South Africa to set up the elite unit, the Scorpions.

Setting up the Scorpions

In 2000 before his retirement, he set up the Scorpions, the Directorate of Special Operations, modelled after the American Untouchables and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Dutton was at the time the only member of the organisation with a public image, and gave it its motto: "Loved by the people, feared by criminals, respected by peers." This once again placed him in the firing line.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

Later life and death

In October 2007, Dutton was selected to serve on the panel to review the case against police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.[31][32]

In October 2011, Seychelles police announced that Dutton had been appointed to create an elite police unit against serious crime there.[33][34]

On Freedom Day 2012, Dutton was awarded the Order of the Baobab in Gold, with the citation: "for his exceptional contribution to and achievement in his investigative work as a dedicated and loyal policeman, for exposing the apartheid government’s "Third Force", for his role in working for peace in KwaZulu-Natal, his international work in investigating and exposing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bosnia‚ Kosovo and Darfur and assisting in establishing the causes of violence in East Timor and Sudan". He received this honour at the same time as his late long-time friend Lwandle Wilson Magadla, who was honoured posthumously.[35][36][37][1]

In the 2010s, Dutton acted as a private investigator for several legal cases about political violence in the 1980s. He was approached by the family of Nokuthula Simelane,[38][39] an uMkhonto we Sizwe fighter who went missing in 1983, to find the truth about her death.[40] In 2015, Dutton submitted an affidavit[41] (along with another affidavit from the former Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Dumisa Ntsebeza) saying that state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings had become part and parcel of the apartheid regime, particularly the police, during the 1980s.[42] This led to several police officers being prosecuted for murdering her. Similarly, Dutton investigated for the reopened inquest into Neil Aggett's 1982 death in detention, after being approached by the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa in 2015.[43]

In September 2015, Dutton was appointed to the National Planning Commission of South Africa.[44][45]

In 2019, Dutton started serving as the lead investigator for the Zondo Commission, a public inquiry into alleged state capture, corruption, and fraud.[46]

Dutton died at a hospital in Hillcrest from a heart attack on 20 January 2022, at the age of 72. He also suffered a stroke few days prior to his death.[47]

References
  1. "Frank Kennan Dutton | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za.
  2. "The Trust Feed Massacre | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za.
  3. "Nelson Mandela: speech to the Organization for African Unity ad hoc committee for southern Africa, 1992-04-28". Archived from the original on 12 October 2006. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  4. John Carlin, "Judge exposes SA police". The Independent, 24 April 1992, page 11.
  5. Michael Hamlyn, "South African policeman is given death sentence". The Times, 1 May 1992.
  6. John Carlin, "Scorpions: sting in the tail". The Independent. 23 July 2000.
  7. "Uncovering the truth behind the Trust Feed massacre - Daily News | Opinion | IOL.co.za". 27 May 2012. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012.
  8. Goldstone, Richard J. (2000). For Humanity: Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08205-3.
  9. Former top cops show support. Mail and Guardian. 3 November 1995.
  10. The file that revealed all. Mail and Guardian. 8 March 1996.
  11. "Statement to the media by Mr Sydney Mufamadi, Minister for Safety and Security: The Investigation Task Unit and the Malan trial, 14 October 1996". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  12. "Gareth Newham, Investigation Units: The Teeth of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, September 1995". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  13. "SAPA - 20 Mar 96 - TRUTH PROBE UNIT STILL NOT SET UP". justice.gov.za.
  14. Ran Greenstein (2003) The role of political violence in South Africa’s democratisation Archived 4 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Community Agency for Social Enquiry. ISBN 1-919776-36-2.
  15. Christina Lamb. "Hit-squad link to Buthelezi". Sunday Times. 11 June 1995.
  16. Phillip Van Niekerk. "General 'helped death squads'". The Observer. 29 October 1995, page 24.
  17. David Beresford. "Dark cloud threatens S. Africa, warns Malan". The Guardian, 3 November 1995, page 1.
  18. David Beresford, "Spotlight: S. Africa reels as Malan walks free". The Guardian, 12 October 1996, page 3.
  19. IFP's 'Caprivis' still on the job. The Mail and Guardian. 11 October 1996.
  20. Opperman reveals Renamo links. Mail and Guardian. 22 March 1996
  21. "Media release by the Minister of Safety and Security, Mr Sydney Mufamadi: Senior Superintendent Frank Dutton to work with Mr Justice Goldstone in the Hague. Pretoria, 23 May 1996". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  22. Another blow to the ITU. The Mail and Guardian. 2 August 1996.
  23. Steve Boggan, "War in the Balkans: war crimes: 15 mass gravesites found in Kosovo". The Independent, 16 April 1999, page 4
  24. Dispatch online: Police accuse Scorpions of picking high-profile cases: Greeff case causes police rift. Wednesday, 17 November 1999
  25. ANC: Statement by Deputy President J. Zuma in the National Assembly. Archived 13 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine 2 September 1999
  26. Address by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Dr P. M. Maduna, during snap debate on the Directorate of Special Operations. Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Cape Town, 11 November 1999
  27. Peter Honey (16 March 2007) Fearless justice: The NPA has played a leading role in all the big corruption trials. Archived 22 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine Financial Mail.
  28. David Beresford, "Gangsters fall foul of South Africa 'hit list'". The Observer, 28 November 1999, page 23
  29. Scorpions' sting under investigation. The Mail and Guardian. 27 July 2000.
  30. Robyn Dixon. "South Africa’s elite crime fighters endangered". Los Angeles Times. 24 February 2008.
  31. Sapa: Selebi review panel named. The Mail and Guardian, 12 October 2007
  32. News24: Selebi panel named. 12 October 2007
  33. "South African national to help set up new crime fighting unit", Seychelles Nation, 17 October 2011
  34. Phillip de Wet: "Nkandla: Zuma's dodgy builder bust for fraud – Former SA cops work in Seychelles". The Mail and Guardian, 20 December 2013
  35. "About Government - National Orders April 2012". 12 December 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012.
  36. Daily News (2012-04-24): Dedicated detectives to receive gold honours
  37. "An unbreakable bond of friendship - Daily News | Opinion | IOL.co.za". 27 May 2012. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012.
  38. "Nokuthula Orela Simelane | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za.
  39. "Nokuthula Simelane – The Truth and Reconciliation Commission".
  40. Athandiwe Saba, NPA to prosecute police officers for death of Nokuthula Simelane, Mail & Guardian, 11 February 2016
  41. Affidavit, archived at http://www.webcitation.org/6enRcr3Fo%5B%5D
  42. Raeesa Pather, SAPS ordered to pay legal fees of security cops accused of murdering MK fighter, Mail & Guardian, 6 June 2018
  43. Ufrieda Ho, Private investigator tells inquest: Investigations into Neil Aggett’s death were a sham, 14 February 2021
  44. Press Release 18 September 2015 PRESIDENT JACOB G. ZUMA ANNOUNCES NEW MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION
  45. "Zuma names new members of NPC". 17 June 2022. Archived from the original on 17 June 2022.
  46. Sarah Smit, Bosasa scandals shakes up state capture saga, Mail & Guardian, 17 January 2019
  47. Risen, Clay (25 January 2022). "Frank Dutton, Detective Who Took On Apartheid Crimes, Dies at 72". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
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