Eugene Alexander de Kock, the former apartheid police colonel known as 'Prime Evil', has testified at a killings inquiry in South Africa. De Kock, who served 20 years in prison for crimes committed during the apartheid era, was released on parole in 2015 at the age of 66.
De Kock's primary role as a police colonel was to silence leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, particularly those from the African National Congress (ANC). He co-founded the notorious Koevoet unit in 1979, which targeted freedom fighters from the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo). In 1983, he was transferred to C10, a counter-insurgency unit based at Vlakplaas farm, where he became commander of the death squad responsible for killing black anti-apartheid activists.
After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, De Kock was arrested and appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He confessed to hundreds of murders and was granted amnesty for many crimes committed in defence of apartheid. However, he was sentenced to 212 years plus two life terms for crimes deemed beyond the call of duty.
While in prison, De Kock conducted a radio interview in which he accused former apartheid leader FW de Klerk of having hands 'soaked in blood'. De Klerk denied the allegations. Psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, who interviewed De Kock extensively, argued in favour of a pardon, describing him as a servant to a brutal regime.
De Kock has sought forgiveness from some of his victims' families. In a letter to the family of lawyer Bheki Mlangeni, whom he killed with a letter bomb, he wrote: 'There is no greater punishment than to have to live with the consequences of the most terrible deed with no-one to forgive you.'
