GQEBERHA – Former apartheid-era police commander Eugene de Kock has told the Gqeberha High Court that President Cyril Ramaphosa was reportedly included on a list of individuals targeted for assassination by apartheid security structures.
Testifying virtually today, 27 March, during an inquest into the 1985 killings of anti-apartheid activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli, collectively known as the Cradock Four, De Kock said Ramaphosa’s name was among 33 people marked for elimination.
On 27 June 1985, the Cradock Four were on their way back to Cradock from Port Elizabeth when they were arrested at a roadblock set by the Security Branch, assaulted, and murdered.
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De Kock, the former commander of the notorious Vlakplaas unit, told the court that senior figures within the apartheid regime had compiled the list, which included what he described as “the current president of the country”.
“They wanted many people shot and killed,” De Kock testified. “My response was, why don’t you kill them yourselves? I had a list of about 33 people, and among them was the name of the current president of the country. They wanted him dead. I said he was not a terrorist.”
De Kock began his testimony in person on Monday, 23 March, where he said, among other things, that he had no involvement in the killings of the Cradock Four.
He told the court he only became an accessory after the fact, when he was asked by those responsible to alter ballistic evidence to cover their tracks.
De Kock maintained that his role at the time was to target what he described as “terrorists”, insisting that the Cradock Four were political activists.
When asked by Advocate Natalie Chesi-Buthelezi about security police work avoiding using direct words, De Kock admitted police members were not allowed to use direct words.
Chesi-Buthelezi then used the phrase “permanently removed” as an example. She said according to the TRC, De Kock admitted that phrase was a smokescreen created by “the executive”.
He also admitted when asked that traces linked to the killing of the Cradock Four were removed and that a cover-up happened. He further revealed that information such as DNA was also removed.
The inquest is to continue on 6 July for continuation of De Kock’s evidence.
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