Government issues assurance after new ‘Prime Evil’ drama

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

EUGENE de Kock, who was leader of apartheid-era death squads, has started his parole and his whereabouts are known, Justice Minister Michael Masutha said yesterday.

De Kock’s lawyer, Julian Knight, had claimed that the man known as “Prime Evil” was being held against his will by state security agencies, and was being taken all over “the bloody country”.

This came after media reports on Friday that De Kock had gone missing.

Masutha granted De Kock parole in January.

Knight wrote to Masutha demanding that immediate arrangements be made for De Kock to be transferred to the Correctional Services Department’s community corrections section, be given his parole conditions, and be released from custody.

Knight threatened to go to court if this did not happen.

“It’s literally like something out of a spook novel. The fact of the matter is that he is still a sentenced prisoner and has not been released to community corrections, so his parole has not started yet. He is getting annoyed that he is not being released into community corrections,” Knight said.

But yesterday, Masutha said in a telephone call that De Kock had already started his parole.

The minister added: “There is an agreement . . . to keep his location confidential. Until there is a change in that agreement, I am obliged to honour it.” Masutha said there was “no need” for De Kock to speak to the ministry via his lawyer.

“I will follow up with the department to establish the facts,” Masutha said.

Also yesterday, Piet Croucamp – a campaigner for De Kock’s release who described himself as an intermediary for the killer – said the confusion was purely miscommunication.

“There is no reason to think the minister or the department is doing something untoward. I know what’s going on,” he said.

Croucamp said he had spoken to Knight and was awaiting a response from the ministry.

“[The parole conditions] have never been made clear.

“That’s part of the communication problem. I have a sense of where he is . . . but I can’t say,” Croucamp said.

Meanwhile, state security, SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority and Correctional Services remained mum on the De Kock situation, all referring queries to Masutha’s spokesman, Mthunzi Mhaga.

Mhaga did not return calls and text messages.

-Matthew Savides