'Thank you for your support'
2007-08-17 11:48
Pretoria - Former apartheid-era police minister Adriaan Vlok on Friday morning told journalists that he was thankful for their "support", after being handed down a suspended sentence for attempted murder.
"Thank you for your support," he said to the cameras, announcing a press conference later on.
The Pretoria High Court ordered suspended sentences on Friday as appropriate punishment for Vlok and four others for the attempted murder of activist cleric Frank Chikane.
Vlok, ex-police chief Johan van der Merwe, former major-general Christoffel Smith and former colonels Gert Otto and Johannes van Staden confirmed there had been an agreement between the State and themselves over the attempted murder charges they faced.
They would plead guilty to the attempted murder of activist Rev Frank Chikane, currently in the office of the presidency, 18 years ago.
In exchange, they would receive an "appropriate sentence", the court heard.
By confirming the agreement with the State they in effect pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
State prosecutor Anton Ackerman said Vlok and Van der Merwe should be sentenced to ten years imprisonment, suspended for five years.
He recommended that the other three accused be sentenced to five years, similarly suspended.
Vlok and Van der Merwe both shook Chikane's hands at the conclusion of the proceedings, taking his personal assistant's telephone number to call him back at a later stage.
Chikane was secretary-general of the SA Council of Churches, which was at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid, when his clothes were lined with a poison that attacked his nervous system.
As Vlok made his way out of the court, he said: "Obey the Lord and He will heal our land." He told journalists that he was thankful for their "support".
The National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi told reporters he could not say whether the Vlok case marked the end of apartheid-era prosecutions.
However, he said that the plea bargain had involved a deal that Vlok and his four co-accused would assist in further prosecutions should they arise.
He said the NPA was satisfied with the sentence, having recommended it.
Chikane told journalists: "I must say I am pleased that this thing is over and we can move forward. I hope that whatever happened today can be used as a way of resolving all the outstanding issues."
- SAPA