Johannesburg - Police say they do not have Eugene de Kock.
“We have no knowledge of this matter. Eugene is not in our custody,” said Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale of national SAPS headquarters.
It took police more than two days to issue the denial of involvement.
Correctional Services has refused to say what has happened to De Kock or whether his parole has been quietly cancelled.
On January 30, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha announced he had agreed to place De Kock on parole.
Parole is recommended by parole authorities, who make a recommendation to the minister, who then makes the final decision.
De Kock had previously brought legal action to get the minister to make a decision on the authorities’ recommendation that he be placed on parole.
It’s understood that De Kock was moved out of the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria before the minister’s public announcement on his parole.
Initially this was apparently because of an unspecified threat to De Kock, but no move appears to have been made since to place him on parole, raising questions about whether the minister has reneged on the parole decision.
The Department of Correctional Services has declined to say whether De Kock remains in its custody, whether he is in protective custody, whether he was snatched from jail or escaped, or whether he was handed over to another department.
Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesman for Masutha, said: “We have acceded to Mr De Kock’s plea not to give details of his release (to the media).”
On Friday, further questions put to Correctional Services were ignored. These included queries on whether the minister had cancelled De Kock’s parole, whether the minister was aware that his parole decision had not been implemented, whether Correctional Services had authorised De Kock’s removal from jail and, if his departure wasn’t authorised by Correctional Services, then what the department was doing about finding him.
De Kock’s lawyer, Julian Knight from Pretoria, has written to Masutha asking for an explanation and warning that he intends bringing a writ of habeas corpus, which is a legal demand to bring a missing person to court so it may decide if his continued detention is legal.
Knight has said that he understood that the SAPS had signed De Kock out of jail.
The State Security Agency would not answer questions on the matter last week and referred queries to Correctional Services.
Independent Media