OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 7.49pm.
THE current caretaker of former special police base Vlakplaas on Tuesday said he plans to buy the farm and convert it into a museum.
Caretaker Louis Smit told reporters at the farm he hoped former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock will be freed and visit the planned museum.
De Kock, who was giving Truth and Reconciliation Commission members a guided tour of Vlakplaas, said he had “quite a lot of mixed feelings” about being back on the farm — which he last visited in 1995.
De Kock commanded Vlakplaas, about 20km west of Pretoria, from June 1985 for about eight years.
On Tuesday he showed amnesty committee members, reporters and lawyers for other amnesty applicants where weapons had been stored, where security police and askaris slept and ate, as well as the location of firing ranges, recreational facilities and gymnasiums.
Smit, who lives on the farm with his wife and two children, said he was not aware of Vlakplaas’ history when he became the caretaker about three years ago.
He said he had found some spent cartridges and five graves on a nearby hilltop, adding that some of his relatives were scared to sleep over.
He told reporters he felt sympathy for De Kock. “As a Christian, I love him.”
Vlakplaas, which became a special police base in 1979, is still owned by the state.