Notorious apartheid police commander "Prime Evil" testifies on killings
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Eugene de Kock testified that one of the police officers implicated in the killings had asked him to help assist with a cover-up.
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Crime Notorious police commander dubbed "Prime Evil" testifies at South African hearing on apartheid killings Updated on: March 24, 2026 / 7:10 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google One of South Africa's most notorious apartheid police commanders testified on Monday at an inquiry into the killing of four activists in 1985 as part of the country's renewed focus on atrocities committed by security forces during decades of forced racial segregation that went unpunished. Eugene de Kock, dubbed "Prime Evil" for his role in killing anti-apartheid activists, denied involvement in the prominent case of the Cradock Four - but said police at the time had photos of around 6,000 anti-apartheid activists described as "known terrorists" who should be tracked and killed if an arrest was not possible. The Cradock Four were not among them, he said. Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto, three of them teachers, were abducted by police at a roadblock and killed. Their bodies were found burned, in one of the apartheid era's most shocking cases. De Kock testified that one of the police officers implicated in the killings had asked him to help assist with a cover-up. "He wanted to know if I could get another firearm," de Kock said, adding that he was asked "if we could interfere with the ballistics." De Kock, the commander of a special counterinsurgency police unit during apartheid, was sentenced in 1996 to two life terms and another 212 years in prison after being convicted of murder, kidnapping and other charges for his role in abducting, torturing and killing activists. He was released on parole in 2015. According to BBC News , his father, Lawrence de Kock, was a magistrate and a close personal friend of former apartheid Prime Minister John Vorster. His brother, Vossie de Kock, described him as a "quiet boy" who "wasn't violent at all," the BBC reported. De Kock asked for forgiveness from some of his victims, according to the BBC. In a letter he penned to the...
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