Vlakplaas: Apartheid Death Squads: 19791994 [Paperback]

Faced with the total onslaught by its enemies, in 1979, Apartheid South Africa established Vlakplaas  lit. shallow farm, a 100-hectare farm nestling in the hills outside Pretoria on the Hennops River  as a secret operation under the arm of C1, a counter-terrorism division of the South African Police headed by Brigadier Schoon.The first phase of Vlakplaas operations, up until 1989, was aimed at fighting the enemy: the armed wings of the liberation movements, the African National Congresss Umkhonto we Sizwe (or MK), the Pan Africanist Congresss Azanian Peoples Liberation Army (or APLA) and the South African Communist Party. The second phase was fighting organized crime in which Vlakplaas itself seamlessly adopted the mantle of organized crime in the notorious downtown area of Johannesburgs Hillbrow. The final phase, the most destructive, was as the murky Third Force that destabilized the country in an orgy of violence in the run-up to its first democratic elections, in 1994.Operating within South Africa as well as beyond the countrys borders, it will never been known how many victims can be attributed to the Vlakplaas agenda  with much of the execution taking place on the farm itself  but a conservative figure of 1,000 murders and assassinations has been mooted.Apartheids agonizing death throes: the account of a regime gone rogue.A story of torture and cold-blooded killing, and lies, denials and betrayal at the highest level.Examines how a handful of white policemen and their black and mixed-race askaris  turned terrorists  unleashed a reign of terror on Apartheids enemies.Looks at why only one commander, Eugene de Kock (Prime Evil), was ever convicted.A detailed and interesting account of Vlakplaas (meaning shalow farm), the former covert military camp and counter-terrorism division of the South African Police...The books text is illustrated by numerous photographsGB