Vlakplaas

Vlakplaas (trans. "shallow farm") is a farm 20 km west of Pretoria that served as the headquarters of counterinsurgency unit C1 (later called C10)[1][2][3] of the Security Branch of the apartheid-era South African Police. Though officially called Section C1, the unit itself also became known as Vlakplaas. Established in 1979, by 1990 it had grown from a small unit of five policemen and about fifteen askaris to a unit of nine squads.[1]

Vlakplaas
ProvinceGauteng
CountrySouth Africa
Coordinates25°49′01.3″S 28°01′39.6″E
Area100 hectares
Section C1 of the Security Branch
"Vlakplaas"
Active1979–1993
CountrySouth Africa
TypeCounterinsurgency unit, paramilitary death squad
Part ofSecurity Branch of the South African Police
HeadquartersVlakplaas, Gauteng
25°49′01.3″S 28°01′39.6″E
Commanders
Notable
commanders
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The unit functioned as a paramilitary hit squad,[4] capturing political opponents of the apartheid government and either "turning" (converting) or executing them. Vlakplaas farm was the site of multiple executions of political opponents of the apartheid government.[5] The unit is known to have carried out the murders of Griffiths Mxenge in 1981 and the so-called "Chesterville Four" in 1986, among many others.[6] C1 officers were also notorious for allegedly routinely defrauding the state, siphoning off government funds to pay agents or for their personal use.[1]

The existence of the unit was revealed after a former member, Butana Almond Nofomela, confessed to his involvement hours before he was scheduled to be executed for an unrelated non-political murder. Nofomela was given a last minute reprieve so he could give up more information.[7][8]

The farm

The land at Vlakplaas was bought by the police in 1979 and later transferred to the national Department of Public Works. When the police vacated the farm in the mid-1990s, it was left in the hands of a caretaker, named Louis Steyn.[9] In 2001, the government held a traditional healing ceremony at the farm and announced its intention to transfer the land to the Department of Arts and Culture, in order to turn it into a museum. However, Steyn successfully challenged his eviction in the High Court.[9]

In August 2007, the Department of Science and Technology announced that the farm would be repurposed as a centre for healing. The centre would conduct research into plants used in traditional medicine, and promote collaboration between practitioners of western medicine and traditional healers.[10] However, years later, Steyn continued to inhabit the farm. He left in 2012, passing the land on to friends, who in turn passed it on to a Christian ministry, Kuriaké, which used it to establish an addiction rehabilitation centre. The ministry was evicted in June 2014, at which point the government planned to transfer it to the Department of Arts and Culture for use as a heritage site.[9]

Commanding officers

C1 was commanded by:[1][6][11]

  • Johannes Jacobus Victor (1979–80)
  • Dirk Coetzee (1980–81)
  • Jan Carel Coetzee (1982)
  • Jack Cronje (1983–85)
  • Eugene de Kock (1985–93)

See also

References
  1. O'Brien, Kevin (1 September 2001). "Counter-Intelligence for counter-revolutionary warfare: The South African police security branch 1979–1990". Intelligence and National Security. 16 (3): 27–59. doi:10.1080/02684520412331306200. ISSN 0268-4527. S2CID 153561623.
  2. Gump, James Oliver (2016). The Dust Rose Like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-8453-1.
  3. Scholtz-Hofmeyr, Renzske (2011). "The farm" (PDF) (MA thesis). Cape Town: University of Cape Town.
  4. The Role of Political Violence in South Africa's Democratisation
  5. Truth and Reconciliation - The Voice of 'Prime Evil' - BBC News
  6. Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (PDF). Vol. 2. Cape Town: The Commission. 1998.
  7. "Vlakplaas Commander testifies before Harms Commission about secret police killings in 1981 | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  8. Schiffrin, Anya. "Exposing apartheid death squads – A trail of murder and terror". City Press. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  9. "State gets Vlakplaas back after 20 years". News24. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  10. Vlakplaas to become centre for healing - Khumalani
  11. "Hearing: General Johannes Viktor". Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 1996. Retrieved 26 November 2021.

Further reading
  • Binckes, Robin (2018). Vlakplaas: Apartheid Death Squads, 1979–1994. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2922-4.
  • Dlamini, Jacob (2015). Askari: A Story of Collaboration and Betrayal in the Anti-apartheid Struggle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-027738-3.
  • Laurence, Patrick (1990). Death Squads: Apartheid's Secret Weapon. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-014937-1.
  • Pauw, Jacques (2017). Into the Heart of the Whore: The Story of Apartheid's Death Squads. Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86842-895-3.

25°49′3.01″S 28°1′41.44″E

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