Vlakplaas

Section C1: Vlakplaas

16 The unit which came to be known by the name of the farm was started in the

late 1970s by Col JJ Viktor, then head of the C section, and Col Jan du Preez.

17 The purpose of Vlakplaas at this stage was ostensibly as a place to rehabilitate

'turned terrorists' or, as they were called, askaris. The askaris were eventually divided into units and supervised by white security police, and it was this change that transformed Vlakplaas into a counter-insurgency unit. The units responded to requests that were channelled to them via the head of Section C or via branch commanders.

18 In the mid to late 1980s similar units to Vlakplaas were established in

Camperdown in Kwazulu Natal and in the Eastern Cape.

19 Heads of C section under which C1/Vlakplaas resided were Col JJ Viktor (later

a Maj-Genl); Brig Willem Schoon; Maj-Genl Nick Janse Van Rensberg and Maj- Genl IJ Engelbrecht Commanders of Vlakplaas were: Col JJ Viktor (founder of the unit); Capt Dirk Coetzee (1980-81); Capt Jan Carel Coetzee (1982); Lt Col Jack Cronje (1983-1985) - later a brigadier); Col Eugene de Kock (1985-1993)