Law and Order Minister, Adriaan Vlok implicates De Klerk at TRC

On 20 July 1998 former Law and Order Minister, Adriaan Vlok testifies under oath that while in office, the former president of South Africa, Mr F. W. de Klerk knew of illegal operations by the security forces against Black opposition groups. Mr Vlok and more than 30 senior police officers are seeking amnesty from the Commission for a bombing campaign carried out during the 1980s. In two earlier submissions to the commission, Mr de Klerk categorically denied that he knew of any illegal operations by his government. A BBC Southern Africa correspondent says the clear contradictions in the two men's accounts undermine the commission's integrity, but also show a measure of its success in getting to the truth - if rather late in the day. Vlok subsequently applied for amnesty for the role he played in the bombing of the South African Council of Churches headquarters, Khotso House; the bombing of the South African Congress of Trade Union headquarters; and attacks on cinemas which showed the Steve Biko biographic film "Cry Freedom". According to his testimony, he was kept in the dark about some of these illegal operations and was eventually given amnesty.