Notorious Apartheid Police Commander ‘Prime Evil’ Testifies at South African Hearing on Killings

Eugene de Kock, head of a covert police unit that tortured and killed dozens of people, attends an amnesty hearing of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission (TRC) in Pretoria, South Africa, Sept. 14, 1998. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

By MICHELLE GUMEDE

12:23 PM EDT, March 23, 2026

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One of South Africa’s most notorious apartheid police commanders testified on Monday at an inquiry into the killing of four activists in 1985 as part of the country’s renewed focus on atrocities committed by security forces during decades of forced racial segregation that went unpunished.

Eugene de Kock, dubbed “Prime Evil” for his role in killing anti-apartheid activists, denied involvement in the prominent case of the Cradock Four — but said police at the time had photos of around 6,000 anti-apartheid activists described as “known terrorists” who should be tracked and killed if an arrest was not possible.

The Cradock Four were not among them, he said. Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto, three of them teachers, were abducted by police at a roadblock and killed. Their bodies were found burned, in one of the apartheid era’s most shocking cases.

De Kock testified that one of the police officers implicated in the killings had asked him to help assist with a cover-up.

“He wanted to know if I could get another firearm,” de Kock said, adding that he was asked “if we could interfere with the ballistics.”

De Kock, the commander of a special counterinsurgency police unit during apartheid, was sentenced in 1996 to two life terms and another 212 years in prison after being convicted of murder, kidnapping and other charges for his role in abducting, torturing and killing activists. He was released on parole in 2015.

Now 77, de Kock was given a police guard to a court in the southern city of Gqeberha, where the Cradock Four were killed. His image was blurred on the official video broadcast after the judge ruled that he not be shown, according to the Foundation for Human Rights, which is representing some of the victims’ families.

Two inquiries into the case conducted during apartheid were widely suspected of being cover-ups. One that started in 1987 found the men were killed by unknown people. The other that began in 1993, found that they were killed by unnamed police officers.

The latest inquiry started last year after families’ pressure. The six former policemen implicated in the killings were never prosecuted despite being identified and denied amnesty during South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation process in the late 1990s. All six have died.

South African authorities have reopened other investigations into apartheid atrocities in recent years. They include the 1967 death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, the 1981 killing of lawyer Griffiths Mxenge and the 1977 death in police custody of iconic anti-apartheid figure Steve Biko.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last year ordered a separate inquiry to establish whether post-apartheid governments led by his party intentionally blocked investigations and prosecutions of apartheid-era crimes.