Mbeki embraces Adriaan Vlok

Former police minister Adriaan Vlok at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Former police minister Adriaan Vlok at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Feb 7, 2016

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Former apartheid police minister Adriaan Vlok has recommitted himself to pressing ahead, seeking forgiveness from those he offended, regardless of the criminal complaint filed against him this week.

The Anti-Racism Action Forum lodged the complaint against Vlok and his erstwhile boss, former president FW de Klerk, relating to the “mass murder” of 27 people in the Sebokeng Massacre in July 1990 and 13 in the Daveyton Massacre in 1991.

Another charge related to the killing of the Cradock Four, allegedly by an apartheid-era hit squad.

Vlok said in an interview that he had made contact with business executive Moeletsi Mbeki, younger brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, with the object of helping the family find closure over the disappearance of three of their kin.

Moeletsi Mbeki was being interviewed live on talk radio when Vlok phoned in to say he would like to apologise for the pain he had caused him and his family.

Thabo Mbeki is on record as having said he was deeply touched by Vlok’s widely publicised gesture of washing the feet of former Presidency director-general, the Reverend Frank Chikane.

Vlok said that during the radio talk show, he offered his contact details to Moeletsi Mbeki with the aim of meeting him to talk about his begging for forgiveness.

When they met, Vlok said Moeletsi Mbeki had expressed concern about the disappearance of members of the family, among them his brother Thabo’s son, Kwanda, who had not reached his destination during the ANC mission in exile.

Thabo Mbeki was interviewed by biographer Mark Gevisser about the disappearance of Kwanda, for his voluminous Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred.

Vlok said that much as he no longer had the authority to access official records, he had promised to do all in his power to assist the family to find closure.

Among other things, he would speak to apartheid police chief General Johan van der Merwe.

This week, Vlok stood by his statement that he had asked Eugene de Kock - commander of Vlakplaas, headquarters of the police counterinsurgency unit - on a personal visit to Pretoria Central Prison, and asked him if he, Vlok, as police minister, had ever instructed him to kill anyone.

De Kock said: “No, sir, but you gave me medals.”

Vlok said he had issued medals on the strength of written recommendations.

Asked about the criminal complaints, Vlok said it was up to the justice system to determine the merits of the cases.

“I am not sure who takes the rap for what happened in the past, but I shall continue to knock at doors and beg for forgiveness for my role in perpetuating apartheid,” Vlok said.

Sunday Independent

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