A Police Minister During Apartheid In South Africa, Adriaan Vlok Dies At 85!
Adriaan Vlok, an infamous police minister of South Africa’s white minority government, passed away at age 85.
He was instrumental in implementing the racist apartheid regime, carried out by police hit squads that abducted, tortured, and killed activists.
After apartheid fell in 1994, Adriaan Vlok admitted to some misdeeds and was given amnesty.
His detractors viewed it as a ruse to win favor and avoid fully disclosing all the atrocities committed by the apartheid state.
In 1989, the police attempted to kill Rev. Chikane, but he survived.
Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, ending the apartheid regime’s more than 45 years of dominance.
For trying to kill Rev. Chikane, Vlok received a suspended 10-year prison term in 2007.
At the time of his sentencing, he declared, “I am embarrassed by many things I have done.
According to Vlok’s family, he passed away at a hospital in the nation’s capital, Pretoria, after a brief illness.
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Between 1986 through 1991, he served as the law and order minister.
According to his biography on South Africa History Online, his ministry was in charge of imprisoning roughly 30,000 people as it tried to quell the uprising against the rule of the white minority.
Adriaan Vlok gave testimony in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which Mr. Mandela’s administration established to shed light on the crimes committed under the apartheid era.
Adriaan Vlok acknowledged that his police force had bombed locations, including the South African Churches’ administrative center. As compensation for his confession, he received amnesty.
Additionally, he bathed the widows and mothers of the ten activists killed by the police after being tricked into an ambush.
JUST IN | Apartheid-era minister Adriaan Vlok, 85, dies at a hospital in Pretoriahttps://t.co/DxTFFl6BuV pic.twitter.com/bwoR28Y7lT
— News24 (@News24) January 8, 2023
“I contributed to maintaining it in place, and I think it would have been wrong to sentence me to prison for all the apartheid crimes,” he continued.
Nearly 30 years after the end of apartheid, racism is still a problem in South Africa.
On Christmas Day, two black youths, ages 13 and 18, allegedly suffered a racial attack at a resort.
At a rally on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa called the teenagers his “guests” and introduced them.
He claimed, “To watch old, white men trying to choke these young men and drown them in a pool underwater was such a horrible crime.
The people of South Africa will never, ever permit racism to reign in our nation again, as Nelson Mandela, the father of our democracy, said, he said, to loud applause. “If you practice racism, we will make sure that you feel the power of the law,” he concluded.
One white guy has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the event, while two more have been accused of common assault and crimen injuria, Latin for “crime against human dignity.”
They have yet to be asked to enter a plea and will return to court later this month.