Adriaan Johannes Vlok was a South African politician notorious for his tenure as the Minister of Law and Order in South Africa from 1986 to 1991 during the final years of the apartheid era.
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Vlok was born on 11 December 1937 and died on 8 January 2023 at age 85.
Vlok played a key role in enforcing the racist system of apartheid, with police running hit squads that kidnapped, tortured and murdered activists.
He held two key roles during the apartheid rule in South Africa: Deputy Minister of Defence inn September 1984 and Deputy Minister of Law and Order a few months later in early 1985.
It was during his time as the Deputy Minister of Law and Order that he oversaw the suppression and detention of around 30,000.
He also oversaw the restriction of 17 anti-apartheid organisations.
Vlok confessed to some of his crimes at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by Mr Mandela’s government after apartheid ended in 1994 to uncover the atrocities of the apartheid regime.
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He admitted that his police force had carried out bombings, including that of the headquarters of the South African Churches.
He was given amnesty for making the confession.
He washed prominent anti-apartheid cleric Rev Frank Chikane’s feet in 2006 in a gesture of contrition.
He also washed the feet of the mothers and widows of 10 activists who were murdered by the police after being lured into an ambush.
Vlok was married to Antoinette and they had three children: Nicolaas Vlok, Adriaan Johannes Vlok and Annemarie Coetzee, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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