South Africa’s apartheid-era death squad commander granted parole

The leader of one of South Africa’s most notorious apartheid-era death squads, responsible for the murder and torture of hundreds of people, has been released on parole. Officials said the release of Eugene de Kock, originally sentenced to more than 200 years behind bars, was part of the country’s ongoing process of “nation building.”

De Kock, nicknamed “Prime Evil”, led a notorious unit that assassinated opponents of South Africa’s apartheid system of white minority rule. After apartheid’s fall, he took advantage of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to make a full confession of his crimes. His sentence reflected the fact that he regularly went beyond even his official orders from his government handlers.

The BBC’s Milton Nkosi was a reporter at the time when De Kock was operating. He remembered the impact that the death squads had. “People were dying the dead of night- nobody knew how they died” he remembered.” and a lot of them, by and large were black activists fighting racial segregation”.

On one occasion, Nkosi reported from the site of a bomb blast organized by De Kock’s team. ‘It was a terrible, terrible scene — at the time we just heard that a lawyer had opened a parcel bomb and it blew up in his face. And I saw the devastation and the agony his family went through. And we later learned that it was the work of Eugene De Kock.”

South Africa’s Justice Minister Michael Masutha has explained the decision as being “in the interests of nation-building.” De Kock’s release was also attributed to good behavior in jail and his efforts to seek forgiveness from the families of some of his victims.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chaired the Commission that originally heard De Kock’s confession, said the decision to release him was important for South African society. “Forgiving is empowering for the forgiver and the forgiven — and for all the people around them. But we can’t be glib about it; it’s not easy.”

De Kock himself has said that senior political figures in the apartheid government should also be held responsible for the death squad killings. In a radio interview in 2007 he described South Africa’s last white president, F.W. de Klerk, as having his hands “soaked in blood.” De Klerk has said that his conscience is clear.