Monday, October 13, 2014

EUGENE DE KOCK - The Soldier We Left Behind.

Eugene de Kock told the TRUTH 
My curiosity about Eugene de Kock started a number of years ago when I read a book called A Human Being Died that Night by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.   It was a story of forgiveness and Archbishop Tutu stated that it was ‘A book that tugs at our humanity, compassion and integrity’.   While I lay in hospital reading that book, a passion was born.  I did research, went through the court case records, the TRC and read everything I could about Eugene de Kock.  For me, there was something fundamentally unjust about his case and I decided to do something about it. 
After about nine months of research, I wrote Eugene de Kock a letter, mentioning that I thought that his cause was worth fighting for.   It was months later that I received his reply.   

“Don’t waste your time and energy on me.  I am a lost cause”.  

For me, and for many others, there is no cause greater than getting Eugene de Kock pardoned and sent home.  It is much, much more than just freeing a man from prison.  It is about forgiveness, compassion and reconciliation of an entire nation.   It is about doing the right thing.  It has become my passion.   Nothing is impossible in South Africa.  If Nelson Mandela could become our President, then Eugene de Kock can be given a pardon.

Countries go to war to fetch one of their own or to revenge one of their own people.  Armies promise their soldiers that they will not be left behind.  It is our fault that one of our own, Eugene de Kock, was left behind.  It is our fault that the born-free people don’t know who he is.  It is our fault that so many people have forgotten him.  Bad things happen when good people turn away.  We turned away.  Many SA police and soldiers cannot move on with their lives because they remember that one was left behind.  An unconditional release for Eugene de Kock will not only affect him, but will heal many lives.  It will be the last door to be slammed shut on apartheid and it will open the door to a more compassionate and united South African nation.

Eugene de Kock is the ONLY South African trialled and sentenced for crimes against humanity after 45 years of apartheid. He was employed by the previous (Apartheid) government and executed orders handed down to him by his superiors. Not one of his superiors stood trial or were sentenced. He has now spent 20 years in a high security prison.  He fought bravely for his country, a product of the apartheid system, and then he was thrown into prison for the deeds he received bravery awards for.    Eugene resents what he has done and is remorseful - unlike the old Nats, he does not think apartheid was a policy mistake; he thinks it was a crime.  His previous employers, the Cabinet Ministers and Presidents, denied any knowledge of his work.  This is a blatant lie as I have seen photographs of a Cabinet Minister decorating his chest with medals for bravery. 
  
According to the law, a life prisoner has the right to apply for parole after 13 years, although not the right to receive parole.  The latest parole hearing was denied by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services because Eugene de Kock’s profile had not been completed correctly, and because the families of the victims had not been consulted.  This is just an excuse to deny parole. 

He has asked forgiveness from the families of the victims, and he has been forgiven by many, some from as early as 2003.  The latest forgiveness and recommendation for his release has come from the Mama family.  This has been all over the media for the last two weeks.   I am not a lawyer, but I do think that the involvement with the families of victims was not part of the procedure when Eugene de Kock was sentenced, so I believe that it should not have affected his parole hearing.  However, Eugene de Kock asked to see the victim’s families without it being forced on him.   
With regard to the correct completion of his profile…this is the responsibility of the Department of Correctional Services and has nothing to do with what Eugene de Kock did or did not do.  This part of the reason for denial of his parole is completely out of his hands as it was not his responsibility.   Surely, the Correctional Services have had more than enough time to correctly complete an inmate’s profile after so many years of the inmate applying for parole?  Once the Correctional Services has rectified their negligence of the completion of his profile, there should be no reason why it cannot be brought before the Correctional Services Parole Board immediately.   Why should he have to wait another year, as stipulated by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, before he can again apply for parole?

Another argument that I want to discuss is that Eugene de Kock was imprisoned as a common criminal and not as a political criminal.  For this reason, politics should not be taken into account when addressing his parole.  Either he is treated like any other criminal as he is imprisoned as one, or he is elevated to that of a political criminal if politics is going to affect his parole.  No one can have his cake and eat it, not even the SA government.

The case of Eugene de Kock cannot be judged without taking the context into account.  It was war and atrocities were committed by every side during the struggle.   Eugene de Kock was the fall guy, the scape-goat and in my opinion, the trade-off between the National Party and the ANC.  The ANC negotiated EVERY SINGLE one of their people out of prison, but the National Party allowed one person to pay so that the Cabinet Ministers and those in command could walk away well-financed and free.

Please click the link below to find our FREE EUGENE DE KOCK Facebook group.  We invite you to join us. Warriors respect one another, even previous enemies.  Our group have members from every group and country involved who were previous enemies.  We all want to put that war to rest but cannot do that until our last soldier is released from prison.   We are requesting a Presidential Pardon for Eugene de Kock, or at the very least, an unconditional release.   He deserves compassion and forgiveness.  He has served his time.  He has paid, and paid, and paid…for the crimes of an entire government!  This is not fair and it is not just.  Either all are punished or all are set free.


When asked why a mass murderer like Eugene de Kock should be freed on his own FB page, Jacques van Heerden answered thus:
How many ANC bomb planters were released with the inception of the New South Africa?
Eugene de Kock was a soldier who acted on the instructions of senior officers in the Police who in turn received their instructions from Parliament.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with internal control mechanisms in the SAP and SADF in order to draw explosives and weapons from logistical magazines.
If you are familiar with the old SAL/ SADF, you will know that not even a pin leaves a store without an authorization, or in Military terms, without a signal.
I mention this, because it would have been impossible for Eugene de Kock (EdK) to draw amongst others, explosives from a magazine without any authorization from higher command.
What makes his crime so inexcusable?
He executed people, who were at the time considered as terrorists. It is important to note my words, "at the time". Depending on where you found yourself they were either Freedom Fighters or terrorists.
If one has regard for some of the crimes that were committed by the "enemy" of the time, bombs in restaurants, in movie houses, shopping centres, necklacing of people accused of being police informers to mention but a few.
His actions, sanctioned by the apartheid government, were to eliminate those threats, which he did. He was given countless medals for his "good work" in safeguarding the people of South Africa. Medals received for action taken which later landed him in jail, when his masters turned their back on him.
Where do we draw the line! Let us call EdK a murderer of the Apartheid regime.
What do we call the late President Nelson Mandela? Bearing in mind that he ordered amongst others the Church Street Bomb, the Amamzimtoti shopping Centre bombing to name but a few? Did the late President Mandela apologize to the people of South Africa for those killed and maimed by the bombings he had ordered?
EdK and many former apartheid policemen went so far to reconcile and seek forgiveness for what they have done during apartheid. However, they are and will always be villains. No matter what they do, there seems to be a section of society/politicians who refuse to forgive them.
How do we put the past behind us if we are not prepared to clean the slate?
The past is water under the bridge, ashes in a fire. No matter what we do, we will never undo what happened in the past.
We cannot call a bullet back, nor can we undo a land mine that was planted on a civilian farm road that killed a farmer and his child.
We can however move forward together, with better understanding of our past thus ensuring not to repeat the mistakes of the past!

If you would like to sign a petition requesting a Presidential Pardon, please click on the link below:



"We can never justify the past, but we should never forget that he was and still is one of us." -  Dr. Piet Croucamp.

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