Special Report Transcript Episode 80, Section 3, Time 12:11

The dramatic successes of the police anti-terrorist unit in Namibia, codenamed ‘Koevoet’ led the South African Security Police to borrow some of their methods. Among Koevoet’s most efficient killers were SWAPO guerrillas who were caught and compromised, then forced to fight their own comrades. Security police section C1 was born. Three of the most hardened South African policemen became its commanders between 1979 and 1993. Dirk Johannes Coetzee, convicted killer and amnesty applicant; Jack Johannes Jakobus Cronje, amnesty applicant for numerous cases; Eugene Alexander De Kock, 212 years sentence for murder and fraud. The nerve centre of these men’s death commando was this beautiful, scenic 44 hectare farm outside Pretoria, Vlakplaas. The secret of the success of this unit was the Koevoet recipe, but at Vlakplaas they were called ‘askaris.’

Notes: Koevoet, Namibia; Vlakplaas; Dirk Coetzee