Families hail De Kock parole denial

[caption id="attachment_40530" align="alignright" width="200"] EUGENE DE KOCK[/caption]

IF former apartheid government hit-squad leader Eugene de Kock was granted parole any time soon, the families of those affected by his crimes would take revenge and he would not live long on the outside, Fort Calata's sister said yesterday.

Peggy Calata said she was "ecstatic" De Kock would not be walking out of jail following the announcement yesterday that his parole bid was not granted as the families of some of his victims were not consulted during the parole process.

De Kock was behind the 1985 murder of Calata along with other United Democratic Front activists from Cradock – Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli – later known as the Cradock Four.

De Kock received amnesty for this attack and several other crimes committed while he was commanding officer of the notorious C10 police unit at Vlakplaas, west of Pretoria. He is, however, serving two life sentences for murder and a further 212 years for conspiracy to commit murder, culpable homicide, kidnapping, assault and fraud. - Sipho Masombuka, Nomahlubi Jordaan and Thulani Gqirana