The Rise and Fall of Apartheid’s Death Squads, 1969–93

Abstract

Beginning in 1963,² the South African Government could detain anyone without trial for as many years as it pleased. This it did with tens of thousands of people, with and without the declaration of a formal state of emergency. But as the opening quotation shows, the South African government also resorted to a deliberate program of murder, including the use of death squads as well as other forms of state terror. Why then, with all the other power at its disposal, did the government decide to illegally kill thousands of its opponents and even completely innocent people? This chapter seeks an answer. It is largely confined to the period 1969–93, in which there were formal death squads. It will focus on the following questions: Who were the death squads? How far does evidence to date penetrate the camouflage of government denial and enable historians to allocate responsibility for authorizing or condoning such murder? How many people were killed?

We were all drinking. We gave Kondile his spiked drink. After twenty minutes he sat down uneasily … then he fell over backwards. Then Major Nic van Rensburg said “Well chaps, let’s get on with the job.” Two of the younger constables with the jeep dragged some dense bushveld wood and tyres and made a fire.… A man, tall and with blond hair, took his Makarov pistol with a silencer and shot him on top of his head. His body gave a short jerk.… The burning of a body on an open fire takes seven hours. Whilst that happened we were drinking and braaing [barbecuing] next to the fire.… The fleshier parts of the body take longer … that’s why we frequently had to turn the buttocks and thighs of Kondile.… By the morning we raked through the ashes to see that no piece of bone or teeth was left.

—Dirk Coetzee¹