Into the Heart of the Whore: The Story of Apartheid's Death Squads

by Jacques Pauw

The ongoing assassinations of anti-apartheid activists led to rumours that some kind of third force must be responsible. The South African government flatly denied any involvement. All investigations of the matter were met with stony silence.

The first crack in the wall came with the publication by the Vrye Weekblad newspaper of the extraordinary story of Dirk Coetzee, former Security Branch Captain. His tale of murder, kidnapping, bombing and poisoning provided corroboration of the shocking confessions made by Almond Nofemela on death row. Slowly the dark secret started unravelling under the probing of determined journalists. In the Heart of the Whore introduces the reader to the secret underworld of the death squads. It explains when and why they were created, who ran them, what methods they employed, who the victims and perpetrators were.

Jacques Pauw was more closely involved with the subject than any other person outside the police and armed forces. In this groundbreaking work he looks at the devastating effect of the secret war on the opponents of apartheid as well as the corrosive effects on the people who committed these crimes.

Genres: History, South Africa, Nonfiction, Politics, Military Fiction

521 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2017

About the author

South African journalist and author Jacques Pauw was a founder member of the anti-apartheid Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad in the late 1980s, where he exposed the Vlakplaas police death squads.

He worked for some of the country’s most esteemed publications before becoming a documentary filmmaker, producing documentaries on wars and conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi, Algeria, Liberia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, among other countries.

When he left journalism in 2014, he was the head of investigations at Media24 newspapers. He has won the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award twice, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting in the US, Italy’s Ilaria Alpi and the Nat Nakasa award for bravery and integrity in journalism.

He is the author of five books: four nonfiction and one fiction. They are In the Heart of the Whore, Into the Heart of Darkness, Dances with Devils, Rat Roads and Little Ice Cream Boy. Three of his books have been shortlisted for major literary awards.

Reviews

[Waldimar Pelser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crucial document from 1992 detailing evidence of the existence of Apartheid death squads, something the then-government vehemently denied at the time of publication of Pauw's excellent book, which predates the TRC, the 1993 Constitution, and of course 94's election, which was still a distant fantasy in '92.

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book about what happens when state thinks it is endangered on all fronts and lets its security forces run the state instead of other way around.

Although it is true that sometimes politics can impede security processes [and history shows that shadowy organizations are then used for protection of state] state must not become ran by shadowy organizations or, even worse, become one.

Great example of investigative journalism and pursuit of truth.

Recommended for anyone interested in security forces topic.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a very interesting view on South Africa's use of death squads which were used by both the police (Vlakplaas) and the military (Civil Co-operation Bureau) during the final stages of the apartheid era. It is shown that these were the result of a series of escalations by the state - each a somewhat logical consequence of its predecessor. Whistleblowers, journalists and activists brought the existence of death squads to the attention of the general public, though many obstacles needed to be overcome before they were really believed. The book discusses many cases where they were used or likely used - the book was published in 1992 so more was to come out in subsequent years - and argues that these extrajudicial killings undermined the state. It is pointed out that in the transition of Vorster to Botha, focus shifted from the police (supported by Vorster) to the military (supported by Botha). The blurring of the lines between these two branches of the state proved less than helpful as did the introduction of the claim of a "total onslaught" whereby the state was portrayed to be under severe threat. This lead to an "anything goes" mentality of the security apparatus. The description of the defamation case against the author's newspaper, brought by a very highly placed policeman, Dr Lothar Neethling, makes for exciting reading (unfortunately, the case was lost on appeal, years after the book had appeared). We should not forget the circumstances that allowed terrible crimes to be committed by the state and this book provides a reminder and excellent insights.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking.