Shaun Smillie Dirk Coetzee, the former South African Police death-squad commander and intelligence officer, in Pretoria.
The Vlakplaas operation had a brief mention in an amnesty statement during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
But it appears in greater detail in Dirk Coetzee’s unpublished memoir, Testimony of a South African Security Policeman: The Full Story.
As former security police blame fading memories to dodge questions about apartheid atrocities, the book could break their code of silence.
In Cradock a red and white Volkswagen kombi filled with union members came to a stop at a police roadblock. Back in 1981 such roadblocks were routine, but what the delegation of National Automobile and Allied Workers Union members didn’t know as the police rummaged through their belongings was that there had been a tip-off.