Former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe has rejected allegations by former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock that he is protecting police generals of the apartheid era, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Thursday.
The public broadcaster said the legal representative for former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt had presented the media at the Port Elizabeth High Court with a statement issued by Van der Merwe.
Van der Merwe said he rejected allegations by De Kock that he was protecting the police generals of the apartheid era in his evidence.
De Kock testified in the amnesty rehearing of Gideon Nieuwoudt and two others at the court regarding the death of the Motherwell Four.
The SABC said Van der Merwe’s statement indicated that De Kock also showed the generals in a bad light during the former Vlakplaas commander’s amnesty application.
However, Van der Merwe said he was still of the opinion that De Kock should be pardoned and get amnesty in the light of the 33 Pan Africanist Congress members who received a presidential pardon in 2002.
He also referred to a letter that the former generals sent to President Thabo Mbeki two years ago, which requested De Kock’s pardon.
He said no reply had been received yet.
A former Vlakplaas member, Lionel Snyman, was to give evidence at the amnesty re-hearing on Thursday. — Sapa