Security Branch (South Africa)

rdf:langString Security Branch (South Africa)

rdf:langString Security Branch

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rdf:langString — Former member of TREWITS on its target-identification and operational applications

rdf:langString — Pauw, The Heart of Darkness, ch. 11

rdf:langString — Report of the TRC, vol. 2

rdf:langString April 1991

rdf:langString Wachthuis, Pretorius Street

rdf:langString Most people who told the Commission they had been detained said also that they had been subjected to some form of assault or torture associated with detention… Extreme torture such as electric shocks or suffocation frequently resulted in loss of bladder or bowel control. Detainees found this painfully degrading; they were disgusting to themselves. Some individuals gave in under the duress of torture and gave evidence against their own comrades. Often these detainees would remain silent after they were released because of feelings of intense remorse and guilt and their belief that when their beliefs were tested they were found wanting.

rdf:langString What did they think we were collecting all this information about addresses, cars, movement for? To send Christmas cards?

rdf:langString [[[Dirk Coetzee]] explains] 'Well, during the time we were drinking heavily, all of us, always, every day. It was just another job to be done. In the beginning it smells like a meat braai, in the end like the burning of bones. It takes about seven to nine hours to burn the bodies to ashes. We would have our own little braai and just keep on drinking.'

rdf:langString ...[A] shallow grave was dug with bushveld wood and tyres. The two corpses were lifted onto the pyre and as the sun set over the Eastern Transvaal bushveld, two fires were lit, one to burn the bodies to ashes, the other for the security policemen to sit around, drinking and grilling meat.

rdf:langString In some cases, measures were taken to perpetuate the myth that a victim who had been killed was still alive… [B]efore being killed by the Northern Transvaal Security Branch in 1986, Patrick Mahlangu was forced to write his family a letter which was then posted in Botswana, thereby creating the illusion that he had gone into exile. His family believed this and eagerly awaited his return in the early 1990s.

rdf:langString — Report of the TRC, vol. 6

rdf:langString Defunct

rdf:langString Disposal of corpses at Vlakplaas

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rdf:langString The Security Branch of the South African Police, established in 1947 as the Special Branch, was the security police apparatus of the apartheid state in South Africa. From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was one of the three main state entities responsible for intelligence gathering, the others being the Bureau for State Security (later the National Intelligence Service) and the Military Intelligence division of the South African Defence Force. In 1987, at its peak, the Security Branch accounted for only thirteen percent of police personnel, but it wielded great influence as the "elite" service of the police. In addition to collecting and evaluating intelligence, the Branch also had operational units, which acted in neighbouring countries as well as inside South Africa, and it housed at least one paramilitary death squad, under the notorious Section C1 headquartered at Vlakplaas. It is also well known for recruiting askaris (informants, double agents, and defectors), and for the systematic use of torture and numerous deaths in its detention facilities. Branch officers carried out the murders of Ruth First, Ahmed Timol, and the Pebco Three, among many other anti-apartheid activists; and Steve Biko died in Security Branch custody after being severely beaten by officers. Famous Branch investigations include those leading to the 1956 Treason Trial, the 1963 Rivonia Trial, and the 1990 Operation Vula trial. It also carried out "Stratcom" disinformation and "dirty tricks" operations which some have likened to a "propaganda war" against the African National Congress. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that the Security Branch engaged in "massive and systematic destruction of records" in 1992 and 1993, following an instruction from head office in 1992. As a result, the details of many of the Branch's operations remain unknown or uncorroborated. Several former members, though a small proportion of the overall staff complement, submitted amnesty applications to the TRC and testified at length about the Branch's involvement in extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations.

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rdf:langString Badge of the South African Police