PRESIDENTIAL PARDON REQUEST

Eugene de Kock

Thursday, 10 July 2014

For Attention: President Jacob Zuma

The Presidency

Pretoria

Your Excellency

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON FOR EUGENE DE KOCK

Today we were advised via a media briefing of the Minister of Justice, that Eugene de Kock’s parole application has been denied, not due to any problem with the prisoner, but apparently due to a lack of competence within the parole system, which did not include the families of victims. On these grounds, this man will again spend another year in prison before his application for parole can be processed. The grounds for the denial appear more political rather than one of a legal nature.

Mr President, we are now counting our years of democracy by the number of years that this man spends in prison. It no longer serves any purpose to keep him imprisoned. He is no threat to the public, he has admitted guilt, he has asked for forgiveness, he has paid for his crimes by his incarceration, he has assisted the National Prosecuting Authorities in their investigations – what more can the man do to enable him to get parole?

At the conclusion of his appearance before the TRC, Eugene de Kock asked if he could meet with the widows of the victims of the Motherwell bombing. The widows’ lawyer agreed. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela spoke to the widows during a weekend of debriefing. “I was profoundly touched by him”, Mrs Faku said of her encounter with de Kock. Both women felt that de Kock had communicated to them something he felt deeply and had acknowledged their pain. “I couldn’t control my tears. I could hear him, but I was overwhelmed by emotion, and I was just nodding, as a way of saying yes, I forgive you. I hope that when he sees our tears, he knows that they are not only tears for our husbands, but tears for him as well … I would like to hold him by the hand, and show him that there is a future, and that he can still change”. (A human being died that night, page 14) If the widows of men killed by Eugene de Kock can forgive him, then we, the people of South Africa, should welcome his release, whether through parole or Presidential Pardon.

South Africa has seen the impossible become possible. It was said that the release of Nelson Mandela from prison was impossible; that the apartheid National Party would never free a prisoner convicted for treason. The impossible happened and he became President. Because our South African past has shown us that anything is possible, I urge you to consider making it possible for Eugene de Kock to be released.

Who amongst us can cast a stone? How can we have reconciliation while one man is kept in prison for all the crimes committed? Was Eugene de Kock’s crimes any worse than the thousands upon thousands of people who fought for and against the National Party? Was he the unfortunate scape-goat so that others could walk free? Is this the reason he was tried and incarcerated as an ordinary prisoner? Was it because charging him as a common criminal would ensure that someone was incarcerated, and could take the blame for all the wrongs of the previous government? The crimes that Eugene de Kock committed were as a direct result of his employment by the National Party. There are many, many people from all sides of the “war” that committed similar crimes for which prisoner number 94616105 still languishes in prison for. What kind of justice do we have in this country when only one person is charged for a crime committed by many?

A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred. (Nelson Mandela) I do not, nor will I ever believe, that the people of South Africa are prisoners of hatred. As a former freedom fighter, Mr President, you will have a deeper and greater sense of compassion towards a former enemy.

For the love of justice, compassion, forgiveness and for reconciliation of our land, I beg you to consider a Presidential Pardon for Eugene de Kock.

Yours truly,

Dianne Lang