Pretoria - Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock was out assisting the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the search for the remains of some victims of apartheid-era killings.
This was while his legal team turned to the high court in Pretoria on Thursday to try to secure his early release from prison.
De Kock has been assisting the NPA’s missing persons task team looking for bones of victims on the outskirts of Pretoria.
“We can confirm that for the past six months (Friday included), Mr De Kock has been assisting the NPA missing persons task team to locate the remains of people who went missing during apartheid,” NPA spokesman Nathi Mncube said.
In July, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha said De Kock should, while waiting to engage with the families of his victims, “continue to assist” the task force in helping “to establish the whereabouts of the remains of their loved ones”.
De Kock will know by the end of January whether he will be released on parole after serving 18 years in jail. His legal team turned to court, challenging the refusal by Masutha to grant him parole.
Masutha said the input of his victims’ families should be obtained first before his release could be reconsidered.
De Kock had in the meantime met the victims’ families and a report on this has been compiled.
In light of this, the National Council for Correctional Services, undertook to consider by December 19 whether De Kock should be placed on parole and to make a recommendation on it to the minister.
Masutha in turn undertook to decide on De Kock’s fate on or before January 31.
De Kock’s lawyer, Julian Knight, is positive that his client is a step closer to freedom. He said the victim/offender dialogue between De Kock and the families started in July, soon after the minister said this had to be done before parole would be reconsidered.
Following the agreement between the parties, Knight said this was a positive indication that De Kock would be given parole when the minister finally decided on the matter at the end of January.
“But I don’t want to prejudge. We will have to wait and see.”
Knight added that there had been good progress in the matter and that “both parties got what they wanted”.
De Kock, who was in charge of the police “death squad” at Vlakplaas in the 1980s, was in 1996 sentenced to two life terms for six murders, as well as a further 212 years’ imprisonment.
Some of the families who have met De Kock agreed to forgive him and wished him to be “released from prison soon”.
It was revealed in the report, drawn up following the meeting between the parties, that the NPA was “on the verge of finding the remains of victim Japie Maponya”.
The parties were advised by the prosecuting authority not to meet Maponya’s family because of this latest development.
Maponya, a security guard, was killed in Swaziland in 1985 after he was first tortured by members of Vlakplaas. They believed he knew the whereabouts of his brother - a suspected Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier.
Maponya’s family were at first opposed to De Kock’s release, but later indicated they wanted to meet him.
The family of murdered Tiisetso Leballo - who was shot dead and whose body was then blown to pieces - were opposed to his release.
De Kock met them and expressed his remorse about Leballo’s killing. He also apologised to the family. The victim’s sister Thando, told De Kock she was not ready to entertain his apology, while two other family members withdrew from the meeting as they were not ready to face him.
It was stated in the memorandum that all the family members asked to be taken to the crime scenes for “cleansing purposes and closure”.
De Kock told them that “although the deceased were buried as criminals, they were not criminals and thus buried under the wrong flag”.
After meeting the families, Correctional Services recommended that the children of the victims be assisted.
Pretoria News