Adriaan Vlok Dies: Adriaan Vlok South African politician Adriaan Johannes Vlok has died. He was born on December 11, 1937, and died on January 8, 2023. From 1986 to 1991, during the last years of apartheid, he was South Africa’s Minister of Law and Order.
During this time, opposition to apartheid and political unrest were getting worse, so the South African government, of which Vlok was a part through the State Security Council, planned and carried out harsh repressive measures. Some of these were hit squads that used bombs to kill anti-apartheid activists.
Former Apartheid-Era Minister Adriaan Vlok Dies!
Adriaan Vlok, who is 85 years old, was a well-known South African police minister when the white minority ran the country. He was essential to keeping the racist apartheid system in place, in which police ran hit squads that kidnapped, tortured, and killed activists.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, Vlok admitted to some of the crimes he had done and was given a fresh start. As a sign of regret, he washed the feet of the famous anti-apartheid preacher Frank Chikane in 2006. His critics thought it was a trick to make people like him and keep him from telling the truth about all the bad things the apartheid regime did.
In 1989, the police tried to kill Rev. Chikane by poisoning him, but they were unsuccessful. The apartheid regime ran south Africa for more than 45 years until Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black president in 1994. Rev. Chikane tried to kill Vlok in 2007, so he got a 10-year prison sentence that was put on hold.
When he was sentenced, he said, “I’m sorry for a lot of the things I’ve done.” Vlok’s family said he had died in a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, after a short illness. He was in charge of law and order from 1986 to 1991.
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In its profile of him, South Africa History Online says that his ministry was in charge of locking up about 30,000 people to stop the rebellion against white minority rule. Vlok testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which Mr. Mandela’s government set up to find out what the apartheid regime did wrong.
Vlok said that his police had bombed places, like the headquarters of the South African Churches. He was let go after he said what he had done. He also washed the feet of the mothers and widows of 10 activists killed by the police after being tricked into an ambush.
On the BBC radio show Newshour in 2015, Vlok said he was not to blame for the “start of apartheid.” “I helped keep it was going, and I think it would have been wrong to put me in jail for all the crimes of apartheid,” he said.
Even though apartheid ended almost 30 years ago, racism is still a problem in South Africa. Two black teens, ages 13 and 18, were allegedly attacked at a resort on Christmas Day because of their race. Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced the teens at a rally, saying they were his “guests.”
JUST IN | Apartheid-era minister Adriaan Vlok, 85, dies at a hospital in Pretoriahttps://t.co/DxTFFl6BuV pic.twitter.com/bwoR28Y7lT
— News24 (@News24) January 8, 2023
He said, “It was so disgusting to see old white men in a pool trying to choke and drown these young men.” “If you’re racist, we’ll make sure you feel the force of the law because, as Nelson Mandela, the father of our democracy, said, the people of South Africa will never, ever, ever again let racism rule in our country,” he said to loud cheers.
One white man is accused of trying to kill someone, and two others are charged with assault and crimen injuria, which means doing something to hurt someone’s dignity on purpose. They haven’t been asked to say anything yet and are due back in court later this month.
