Vlakplaas | |
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Province | Gauteng |
Country | South Africa |
Coordinates | 25°49′01.3″S 28°01′39.6″E / 25.817028°S 28.027667°E |
Area | 100 hectares |
Section C1 of the Security Branch | |
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"Vlakplaas" | |
Active | 1979–1993 |
Country | South Africa |
Type | Counterinsurgency unit, paramilitary death squad |
Part of | Security Branch of the South African Police |
Headquarters | Vlakplaas, Gauteng 25°49′01.3″S 28°01′39.6″E / 25.817028°S 28.027667°E |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
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Part of a series on |
Apartheid |
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Vlakplaas (trans. "shallow farm") is a farm 20 km west of Pretoria that served as the headquarters of counterinsurgency unit C1 (later called C10)[1][2][3] of the Security Branch of the apartheid-era South African Police. Though officially called Section C1, the unit itself also became known as Vlakplaas. Established in 1979, by 1990 it had grown from a small unit of five policemen and about fifteen askaris to a unit of nine squads.[1]
The unit functioned as a paramilitary hit squad,[4] capturing political opponents of the apartheid government and either "turning" (converting) or executing them. Vlakplaas farm was the site of multiple executions of political opponents of the apartheid government.[5] The unit is known to have carried out the murders of Griffiths Mxenge in 1981 and the so-called "Chesterville Four" in 1986, among many others.[6] C1 officers were also notorious for allegedly routinely defrauding the state, siphoning off government funds to pay agents or for their personal use.[1]
The existence of the unit was revealed after a former member, Butana Almond Nofomela, confessed to his involvement hours before he was scheduled to be executed for an unrelated non-political murder. Nofomela was given a last minute reprieve so he could give up more information.[7][8]