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Eugene De Kock
Eugene Alexander de Kock (born 29 January 1949) is a former South African Police colonel, torturer, and assassin, active under the apartheid government. Nicknamed "Prime Evil" by the press, De Kock was the commanding officer of C10, a counterinsurgency unit of the SAP that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered numerous accused terrorists from the 1980s to the early 1990s. C10's victims included members of the African National Congress. Following South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994, De Kock disclosed the full scope of C10's crimes and acknowledged the loss the families suffered of the victims he was instructed to murder, while testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 1996, he was tried and convicted on eighty-nine charges and sentenced to two concurrent life terms plus 212 years in prison. Since beginning his sentence, De Kock has accused several members of the apartheid government, including former State President F. W. de Klerk, of permitting C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Force was officially succeeded by the SADF, which was established by the Defence Act (No. 44) of 1957. The SADF, in turn, was superseded by the South African National Defence Force in 1994. Mission and structure The SADF was organised to perform a dual mission: to counter possible insurgency in all forms, and to maintain a conventional military arm which could defend the republic's borders, making retaliatory strikes as necessary. As the military expanded during the 1970s, the SADF general staff was organised into six sections—finance, intelligence, logistics, operations, personnel, and planning; uniquely, the South African Medical Service (SAMS) was made co-equal with the South African Army, the South African Navy and the South Africa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Human Being Died That Night
''A Human Being Died That Night'' is a 2003 book by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela. The book is Gobodo-Madikizela's account of her interviews with state-sanctioned mass murderer Eugene De Kock from the time of apartheid in South Africa. These interviews are mixed in with stories of victims and criminals on both sides of the racial barrier with whom she met during her time as a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee, a part of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The book focuses on her growing empathy for those pushed by a cruel system into losing their morality and becoming killers (killers from all races) and her attempt to understand what causes someone to be able to commit crimes against humanity, and is considered an examination of the broader impact of the Truth Commission process. The book is 197 pages, separated into chapters. The book won the Alan Paton Award in 2004. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is the author of the book ''A Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (born 15 February 1955) is the Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She graduated from Fort Hare University with a bachelor's degree and an Honours degree in psychology. She obtained her master's degree in Clinical Psychology at Rhodes University. She received her PhD in psychology from the University of Cape Town. Her doctoral thesis, entitled "Legacies of violence: An in-depth analysis of two case studies based on interviews with perpetrators of a 'necklace' murder and with Eugene de Kock", offers a perspective that integrates psychoanalytic and social psychological concepts to understand extreme forms of violence committed during the apartheid era. Her main interests are traumatic memories in the aftermath of political conflict, post-conflict reconciliation, empathy, forgiveness, psychoanalysis and intersubjectivity. She served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Party (South Africa)
The National Party (, NP), also known as the Nationalist Party, was a political party in South Africa from 1914 to 1997, which was responsible for the implementation of Apartheid, apartheid rule. The party was an Afrikaner nationalism, Afrikaner ethnic nationalist party, which initially promoted the interests of Afrikaners but later became a stalwart promoter and enactor of white supremacy, for which it is best known. It first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It merged with its rival, the South African Party (SAP), during the Great Depression, 1929-1939 Great Depression, and a splinter faction, the Herenigde Nasionale Party, Re-United National Party became the official opposition during World War II and won power in 1948. With the National Party governing South Africa from 1948 South African general election, 4 June 1948 until 1994 South African general election, 9 May 1994, the country for the bulk of this time was only a ''de jure'' or partial democracy, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death Squad
A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are formed by an insurgency, domestic or foreign governments actively participate in, support, or ignore the death squad's activities. Death squads are distinguished from assassination groups by their permanent organization and the larger number of victims (typically thousands or more) who may not be prominent individuals. Other violence, such as rape, torture, arson, or bombings may be carried out alongside murders. They may comprise a secret police force, paramilitary militia groups, government soldiers, policemen, or combinations thereof. They may also be organized as vigilantes, bounty hunters, mercenaries, or contract killers. When death squads are not controlled by the state, they may consist of insurgent forces or organize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Border War
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angola from 26 August 1966 to 21 March 1990. It was fought between the South African Defence Force (SADF) and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), an armed wing of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). The South African Border War was closely intertwined with the Angolan Civil War. Following several years of unsuccessful petitioning through the United Nations and the International Court of Justice for Namibian independence from South Africa, SWAPO formed the PLAN in 1962 with material assistance from the Soviet Union, China, and sympathetic African states such as Tanzania, Ghana, and Algeria. Fighting broke out between PLAN and the South African security forces in August 1966. Between 1975 and 1988, the SADF staged m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People's Liberation Army Of Namibia
The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF) during the South African Border War. Throughout its history, PLAN had both irregular insurgent and semi-conventional units, as well as an extensive recruitment network in rural South West Africa (Namibia). During the war most of its domestic activities consisted of mine warfare and acts of sabotage. PLAN initially lacked any standing units, and the bulk of operations were carried out by political exiles who spent cyclical periods residing in refugee camps in neighbouring states before launching raids inside South West Africa itself. By the end of the war, PLAN had 32,000 militants under arms, including three battalions of semi-conventional troops equipped with heavy weapons. PLAN launched its largest and final offensive in late April and early May 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koevoet
Koevoet (, Afrikaans for ''Crowbar (tool), crowbar'', also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL). Its formations included white South African police officers, usually seconded from the South African Security Branch or Special Task Force (SAPS), Special Task Force, and black volunteers from Ovamboland. Koevoet was patterned after the Selous Scouts, a multiracial Rhodesian military unit which specialised in counter-insurgency operations. Its title was an allusion to the metaphor of "prying" insurgents from the civilian population. Koevoet was active during the South African Border War between 1979 and 1989, during which it carried out hundreds of search and destroy operations against the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN). Koevoet's methods were controversial, and the unit was accused of committing numerous atrocities against civilians. Over the course of the war, it killed or captured 3,225 insurge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South West Africa
South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered People's Republic of Angola, Angola (Portuguese Angola, a Portuguese colony before 1975), Botswana (Bechuanaland Protectorate, Bechuanaland before 1966), South Africa, and Zambia (Northern Rhodesia before 1964). During its administration, South Africa applied its own apartheid system in the territory of South West Africa. A German colonial empire, German colony known as German South West Africa from 1884 to 1915, it was made a League of Nations mandate of the Union of South Africa following German Empire, Germany's defeat in the World War I, First World War. Although the mandate was repealed by the United Nations on 27 October 1966, South African control over the territory continued. The territory was administ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warrant Officer
Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned officer ranks, the most senior of the non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks, or in a separate category of their own. Warrant officer ranks are especially prominent in the militaries of Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations and the United States. The name of the rank originated in England in the Middle Ages, medieval England. It was first used during the 13th century, in the Royal Navy, where warrant officers achieved the designation by virtue of their accrued experience or seniority, and technically held the rank by a warrant (law)#United Kingdom, warrant, rather than by a formal Commission (document), commission (as in the case of a commissioned officer). Nevertheless, WOs in the British services have traditionally been considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Task Force (SAPS)
The Special Task Force (STF) is the principal police tactical unit of the South African Police Service (SAPS). The Special Task Force handles high risk operations that fall beyond the scope of policing which require specialised skills. History In 1967, about 2,000 members of the South African Police were deployed to guard the northern border of Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe) to assist the Rhodesian security forces as guerrilla attacks became more frequent during the Rhodesian Bush War. These police members proved to be ill-equipped and ineffective at dealing with guerrilla warfare and terrorism. As a result of these events the Security Branch of the Police began to envision a special police unit to deal with high-risk situations such as hostage situations. Captain J.J. de Swardt of the Security Branch of the Police as well as Sergeant Roelf de Plooy (a counter insurgency (COIN) instructor), both veterans of the deployments in Rhodesia against Zimbabwe African National Uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
