March 28, 1945 - Dirk Coetzee
As commander of Vlakplaas, he led a covert unit that operated outside any legal framework, conducting assassinations and other extrajudicial acts against apartheid-era opponents of the South African state. His later decision to speak publicly about these operations — including the killing of activist Griffiths Mxenge — helped expose the systematic nature of state-sanctioned violence that official denial had long obscured.
From Wikipedia
Dirk Coetzee (15 April 1945 – 7 March 2013) was co-founder and commander of the covert South African Security Police unit based at Vlakplaas. He and his colleagues were involved in a number of extrajudicial killings including that of Griffiths Mxenge. Coetzee publicly revealed the existence of the Vlakplaas death squads in 1989, making himself a target of a failed assassination attempt.
Further reading
- Into the Heart of the Whore
Traces how journalist Jacques Pauw exposed the truth behind apartheid's secret assassination squads through Dirk Coetzee's explosive revelations to the Vrye Weekblad newspaper.
View on Amazon → - The Terrorist Album
An award-winning historian examines apartheid's security police and their clandestine photo album used to hunt down enemies of the South African state.
View on Amazon →
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