South Africa’s apartheid-era police minister Adriaan Vlok dies

A notorious police minister during white minority rule in South Africa, Adriaan Vlok, has died aged 85.

He played a key role in enforcing the racist system of apartheid, with police running hit squads that kidnapped, tortured and murdered activists.

Vlok confessed to some of his crimes after apartheid ended in 1994 and was granted amnesty.

He also washed prominent anti-apartheid cleric Rev Frank Chikane’s feet in 2006 in a gesture of contrition.

His critics saw it as a stunt to gain sympathy, and to avoid making a full disclosure of all the crimes committed by the apartheid regime.

Rev Chikane had survived an attempt by police to poison him to death in 1989.

More than 45 years of rule by the apartheid regime came to an end in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president.

In 2007, Vlok was given a suspended prison sentence of 10 years