- Former Apartheid-era police colonel Eugene de Kock appeared before the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry on 26 October 2026
- De Kock made allegations about the supply of weapons and covert funding to the Inkatha Freedom Party during the Apartheid era
- It's not the first time that De Kock has made allegations about the former government's role in providing support to the IFP
Source: Getty Images
Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has spent a decade reporting on South Africa's political landscape, crime, and social issues. He worked as a newspaper journalist for 10 years before transitioning to online journalism.
GAUTENG — Former Apartheid-era police colonel Eugene de Kock appeared before the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry on 26 October 2026, where he made allegations relating to the supply of firearms, ammunition and cash to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The Khampepe Commission is the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations regarding efforts or attempts having been made to stop the investigation or prosecution of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases.
De Kock's allegations at the Khampepe Commission
De Kock, the former commander of the notorious Vlakplaas security unit, alleged that weapons and funding were channelled to the IFP during the Apartheid era. The allegations touch on the involvement of senior police officials in authorising or facilitating such support.
These claims are not without historical precedent. During his 1996 trial and mitigation hearings, as well as in his amnesty applications before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), De Kock described supplying homemade firearms, AK-47s, grenades and ammunition to IFP figures, including Themba Khoza and Philip Powell.
He further stated that senior officers, among them generals Krappies Engelbrecht and Nick Janse van Rensburg, had knowledge of or authorised these operations.
The TRC documented substantial evidence of unlicensed weaponry and covert support flowing from South African Police and Vlakplaas operatives to the IFP during the early 1990s, a period marked by intense political violence between the IFP and the African National Congress.
IFP's historical denial
The IFP previously distanced itself from De Kock's claims. In 1999, the party stated it had no record of De Kock being a member, despite his assertion to the TRC that he held an IFP membership card and had supplied the organisation with weapons to counter the ANC.
De Kock's latest testimony before the Khampepe Commission revisits a chapter of South Africa's Apartheid history that has remained deeply contested, with his admissions forming part of the public record since the mid-1990s.
De Kock discusses politicians he was asked to kill
Briefly News reported that de Kock told the High Court in Gqeberha about a list of people he was asked to kill.
The former commander of the notorious Vlakplaas death squad noted that President Cyril Ramaphosa's name was also on the list.
South Africans weighed in on de Kock's claims, with some doubting that Ramaphosa was a threat at the time.
Source: Briefly News