Vlakplaas

Vlakplaas
Province	Gauteng
Country	South Africa
Coordinates	26°37′59.99″S 27°40′59.99″E / 26.6333306°S 27.6833306°E / -26.6333306; 27.6833306
Area	100 hectares

Section C1 of the Security Branch
"Vlakplaas"
Active	1979–1993
Country	South Africa
Type	Counterinsurgency unit, paramilitary death squad
Part of	Security Branch of the South African Police
Headquarters	Vlakplaas, Gauteng 26°37′59.99″S 27°40′59.99″E / 26.6333306°S 27.6833306°E / -26.6333306; 27.6833306
Commanders
Notable commanders	Dirk Coetzee (1980–1981) Eugene de Kock (1985–1993)

Vlakplaas (trans. "shallow farm") is a farm 20 km west of Pretoria that served as the headquarters of counterinsurgency unit C1 (later called C10)^[1][2][3] of the Security Branch of the apartheid-era South African Police. Though officially called Section C1, the unit itself also became known as Vlakplaas. Established in 1979, by 1990 it had grown from a small unit of five policemen and about fifteen askaris to a unit of nine squads.^[1]

The unit functioned as a paramilitary hit squad,^[4] capturing political opponents of the apartheid government and either "turning" (converting) or executing them. Vlakplaas farm was the site of multiple executions of political opponents of the apartheid government.^[5] The unit is known to have carried out the murders of Griffiths Mxenge in 1981 and the so-called "Chesterville Four" in 1986, among many others.^[6] C1 officers were also notorious for allegedly routinely defrauding the state, siphoning off government funds to pay agents or for their personal use.^[1]

The farm[]

The land at Vlakplaas was bought by the police in 1979 and later transferred to the national Department of Public Works. When the police vacated the farm in the mid-1990s, it was left in the hands of a caretaker, named Louis Steyn.^[7] In 2001, the government held a traditional healing ceremony at the farm and announced its intention to transfer the land to the Department of Arts and Culture, in order to turn it into a museum. However, Steyn successfully challenged his eviction in the High Court.^[7]

In August 2007, the Department of Science and Technology announced that the farm would be repurposed as a centre for healing. The centre would conduct research into plants used in traditional medicine, and promote collaboration between practitioners of western medicine and traditional healers.^[8] However, years later, Steyn continued to inhabit the farm. He left in 2012, passing the land on to friends, who in turn passed it on to a Christian ministry, Kuriaké, which used it to establish an addiction rehabilitation centre. The ministry was evicted in June 2014, at which point the government planned to transfer it to the Department of Arts and Culture for use as a heritage site.^[7]

Commanding officers[]

C1 was commanded by:^[1][6][9]

• Johannes Jacobus Victor (1979–80)
• Dirk Coetzee (1980–81)
• Jan Carel Coetzee (1982)
• Jack Cronje (1983–85)
• Eugene de Kock (1985–93)

See also[]

• Civil Cooperation Bureau
• Bureau of State Security

References[]

Further reading[]

• Binckes, Robin (2018). Vlakplaas: Apartheid Death Squads, 1979–1994. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2922-4.
• Dlamini, Jacob (2015). Askari: A Story of Collaboration and Betrayal in the Anti-apartheid Struggle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-027738-3.
• Laurence, Patrick (1990). Death Squads: Apartheid's Secret Weapon. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-014937-1.

• Pauw, Jacques (2017). Into the Heart of the Whore: The Story of Apartheid's Death Squads. Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86842-895-3.

External links[]

• Witch Doctors 'cleanse' Vlakplaas
• Vlakplaas proposed as museum
• Vlakplaas and the murder of Griffiths Mxenge

Coordinates: 25°49′3.01″S 28°1′41.44″E / 25.8175028°S 28.0281778°E / -25.8175028; 28.0281778

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