Eugene de Kock
| Eugene de Kock | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 29 January 1949 |
| Nationality |
 South African
|
| Other names | Prime Evil |
| Occupation | Member of the South African Police (SAP) |
| Known for | Role in the apartheid era counter insurgency division of the SAP |
| Awards | Police Cross at Sevran |
Eugene Alexander de Kock (born 29 January 1949) is a former South African Police colonel, torturer, and assassin, active under the apartheid government. Nicknamed "Prime Evil" by the press, de Kock was the commanding officer of C10, a counter-insurgency unit of the South African Police that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered numerous anti-apartheid activists from the 1980s to the early 1990s. C10's victims included members of the African National Congress.
Following South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994, de Kock disclosed the full scope of C10's crimes while testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 1996, he was tried and convicted on eighty-nine charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison. Since beginning his sentence, de Kock has accused several members of the apartheid government, including former state president F. W. de Klerk, of permitting C10's activities.
Eugene Alexander de Kock was born to Lourens Vosloo de Kock, a magistrate and personal friend to former prime minister John Vorster. Vosloo (Vossie) de Kock, Eugene's brother, later described him as a "quiet" boy who "wasn't a violent person." He also recounted how their father, a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond, indoctrinated the boys in Afrikaner nationalist ideology and taught them "strict Afrikaans" as they grew up.
De Kock developed a long-time ambition of becoming an officer. After finishing school, he did his 12 months national service in Pretoria at the Army Gymnasium in 1967 and left as a fully qualified infantry soldier in the South African Defence Force, but he decided not to attend the officers college in Saldanha Bay because of a stutter, and decided not on doing his B. Mil degree. De Kock then joined as a member of the South African Police, where he was later joined by his brother a few years later. Eugene de Kock already had been doing training (off duty) in Pretoria at the Baviaanspoort Prison grounds with members of the Security Police under Captain de Swart (de Kock was still in the uniform branch) in what later was to become the South African Police Special Task Force. De Kock had not been rejected to join the Special Task Force's first training session because of poor eyesight, as he had been invited to join, being one of the unofficial small group that initially started the group, later becoming the S.A. Police Special Task Force. He already did his first 5 parachute static line jumps and went for live fire exercises every Saturday. The same day the request came for volunteers to train new Special Task Force members, de Kock was instructed to report to the S.A. Police College for an Officers course to be promoted from Warrant Officer to Lieutenant, 1976, and made the choice to do the officers course.
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