/ 23 June 2000

ADRIAAN VLOK AND ASSOCIATES GET AMNESTY

THE Truth Commission’s Amnesty Committee has granted amnesty to former Minister of Police Adriaan Vlok, former Police Commissioner General Johannes Van Der Merwe and nine security policemen for their role in several bomb scares at cinema theatres around the country. The bomb scares, which all occurred in July 1988, were designed to prevent the film “Cry Freedom” from being screened. Different applicants were involved in different incidents in Johannesburg and Durban. The film dealt with the death of apartheid activist Steve Biko and the police were concern that it would increase racial tension. Applicants who were part of the planning, ordering and execution of the bomb scares testified that their conduct was motivated by the political unrest and violence which prevailed at that time.