FW's prize 'stained in blood'
29/07/2007 17:01  - (SA)  

Take me to court - Buthelezi 'Prime Evil' takes on FW My conscience is clear - FW FW denies role in apartheid crimes FW 'didn't know of Chikane plan' Vlok implicates De Klerk Vlok: 'Prime Evil' will testify 'Speak out on apartheid crimes'

Dawie van Heerden, Rapport

Johannesburg - Former president FW de Klerk knew about covert operations by his security forces during the apartheid years, says former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock.

De Kock, speaking from jail where he is serving a life sentence, said De Klerk himself had given orders for an attack in Mthatha where the wrong house was hit and several children were killed.

De Kock also told Rapport that the ANC government was protecting generals and politicians of the former government who committed apartheid-era crimes, because they were afraid senior leaders of the ANC would be exposed as apartheid spies if the perpetrators were prosecuted.

"De Klerk said in 1993 that covert operations by the security forces need to be exposed to the bone. Now that we have come to the bone we are finding his and his generals' names.

"De Klerk ordered the Mthatha attack shortly after the St James massacre.

"How can he say he did not know what was happening on the ground when he knew exactly where to find a hit squad for the attack?" asked De Kock.

'Why just me?'

De Kock is bitter because he has been behind bars for almost 14 years while many of his former colleagues are walking around free and have not been charged.

"Why just me? Others must also be behind bars. I have been in jail for 13 years now and am paying the price alone. It is not fair," he said.

He is particularly upset that General Johann van der Merwe and former minister Adriaan Vlok will be charged with only the attempted murder of Reverend Frank Chikane.

"Van der Merwe cannot just be charged with the attempted murder of Chikane. He did not get amnesty for an attack that my colleagues and I carried out in Lesotho in 1985," said De Kock.

"Van der Merwe gave orders for the attack in which nine or 10 people were shot dead."

"He actually allowed a crime to be committed in another country and must be charged in Lesotho, or even the international court of justice," he said.

"I have also given the police information about a murder that Dirk Coetzee, also a former Vlakplaas commander, and Joe Mamasela were involved in."

In 2001 the TRC dismissed Van der Merwe's appeal for amnesty for the Lesotho attack.

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