Adriaan Vlok

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Adriaan Johannes Vlok (born December 11, 1937 in Sutherland , Cape Province , South Africa ) is a South African politician. Until its dissolution in 2005 he was a member of the National Party (NP) and from 1986 to 1991 South Africa's Minister for Public Order. He is the first minister of the former apartheid regime to stand trial against former members of the security authorities before a court for crimes that he committed during his tenure and to have been convicted for these. However, his suspended sentence sparked controversy across the country.

Life and accomplishments

As Minister of Public Order, Vlok was responsible for enforcing laws to oppress blacks; among other things, over 30,000 activists were interned during his tenure. He also advocated bomb attacks on his opponents as well as questionable retaliatory measures and assassinations against freedom fighters and human rights activists such as the then General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches Frank Chikane , who openly preached against the oppressive form of government. In 1989, tried Vlok together with Johan van der Merwe , the former head of the South African Police, and three other security officers of the Civil Cooperation Bureau to poison Chikane, by his underwear with a nerve poison soaked. Chikane, who was in the United States at the time, survived the poison attack as he received rapid medical treatment.

In 1991 Vlok was removed from his post by President Frederik Willem de Klerk and demoted to the position of chief prison administrator, an office he held until 1994. In the course of the processing of apartheid crimes by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), he was prosecuted in 1999 for his confessed crimes, the bombings against the seat of the South African Council of Churches and the seat of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) an enacted ordinance guarantees amnesty . The prerequisite, however, was the making of a comprehensive confession and proof of a politically motivated crime. At the time, however, he kept silent about his involvement in the attempted murder of Chikane.

In August 2006 it became known that he had withheld criminal offenses from the commission, whereupon he caused a stir with public apologies. In a dramatic gesture, he washed the feet of Frank Chikane, who was an advisor to the then head of state Thabo Mbeki , and pleaded guilty to having arranged the attack together with van der Merwe. He managed to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. His trial, which took place in camera, lasted only a few hours and ended on August 17, 2007 with a ten-year suspended sentence.

Vlok is now volunteering to help the poor and deliver food to disadvantaged families in townships. In his house he also accommodates several homeless and needy people.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adriaan Vlok spared jail. Mail & Guardian, August 17, 2007, accessed January 7, 2016
  2. ↑ cf. Judith Raupp in the Süddeutsche Zeitung ; No. 189 from Saturday / Sunday, 18./19. August 2007; P. 4
  3. ↑ cf. Feet washed in apartheid apology , BBC News, August 28, 2006, accessed October 28, 2007
  4. ↑ From apartheid minister to benefactor. Retrieved October 6, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Vlok, Adriaan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vlok, Adriaan Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African Minister for Public Order
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Sutherland , Cape Province , South Africa