Editing State terrorism (section)

===South Africa===
{{See also|1982 bombing of the African National Congress headquarters in London}}

Between 1979 and 1990, the [[Apartheid]] government in South Africa operated a branch of the [[South African Police]] known as [[Vlakplaas]] who routinely used methods of terrorism to support the state in maintaining Apartheid.<ref name="auto"/> These methods included the bombing of civilian buildings ([[COSATU House]] and [[Khotso House]]), and the targeted-killing and [[assassinations]] of [[Internal resistance to apartheid|anti-Apartheid]] activists.

In the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] hearings, the former Major-General and Commander of Vlakplaas, Sarel “Sakkie” du Plessis Crafford gave the following three reasons for the Apartheid state's policy of [[extra-judicial]] killings:

#"It scared off other supporters and potential supporters; it made people reluctant to offer open support; it created distrust and demoralization amongst cadres.<!--closing quotation mark intentionally omitted as quotation continues across paragraph break-->
# "It gave white voters confidence that the security forces were in control and winning the fight against Communism and terrorism.
# "The information gleaned during the interrogation needed to be protected against disclosure."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Simon |title=Status Quo Terrorism: State-Terrorism in South Africa during Apartheid |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |date=3 May 2021 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=4–5 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2021.1916478|s2cid=235534871 }}</ref>

The most notorious of the Vlakplaas operatives were [[Eugene de Kock]] and the [[askari]] [[Joe Mamasela]], who were linked to several high-profile extra-judicial killings, including that of [[Griffiths Mxenge]]. Following South Africa's transition to [[democracy]], de Kock was later tried and convicted on eighty-nine charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison.