It appears that the State Security Agency (SSA) is no longer paying for apartheid state assassin Eugene de Kock’s upkeep, as once claimed to the Zondo commission.
According to Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the minister in the presidency responsible for state security, De Kock is not in the agency’s books, neither is he receiving payment from SSA nor getting any form of financial support.
Ntshavheni told TimesLIVE in a recent interview: “The SSA doesn’t have Eugene de Kock in its custody. I don’t want to say it’s no longer. I asked when I joined, ‘is Eugene de Kock in our custody?’ and they said no.
“I asked when I joined SSA, are we paying for his upkeep? Is he in our books, is he being paid for. They said no. I was happy I don’t have him,” she said.
Ntshavheni said she was aware of “the allegation” that the agency was paying thousands of rand for De Kock’s upkeep and that he was allegedly getting R40,000 a month from the agency.
“Historically he might have been there, but now he is not there. I don’t know where he is. I asked about his location, and they said no, they don’t know.”
She said when it emerged that De Kock was not in the agency’s books, she did not inquire any further.
“I didn’t ask when we stopped paying for, but he is not in the custody of the agency I am overseeing. I stopped there because I was told he is not our problem,” she said.
It was revealed at the Zondo commission in January 2021 that the government that paroled De Kock did not stop there but was spending up to R200,000 for his upkeep.
According to evidence from unidentified witnesses, dubbed “Mr Y” through a written affidavit and “Ms K” in oral evidence, the government, through SSA’s “Operation Lock”, spent R200,000 on De Kock every month after his release.
The expenditure included a state-sponsored safe house for the assassin and a R40,000 monthly “salary”.
The reasons for this expenditure were not revealed.
In January 2022, justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola distanced his department from De Kock, saying they were not involved in the alleged payment of his salary.
Lamola said questions about the matter should be directed to the SSA.
“At the time of assuming my duties as the minister I was not aware of the allegations that [the] parolee is paid, as parolees do not receive payments from the department of correctional services,” he said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.
Lamola said upon being placed on parole, De Kock remained in the custody of the SSA as per his parole conditions.
De Kock is a former colonel in the police force of the apartheid regime. His claim to fame is commanding the infamous Vlakplaas unit that specialised in executing and torturing anti-apartheid activists.
De Kock was released on parole in 2015, having been sentenced to more than 200 years behind bars in 1996.
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