SOUTH AFRICA: A former government minister from the apartheid era has apologised for atrocities committed under his command in what is being seen as an important gesture towards reconciliation in South Africa.
Adriaan Vlok, minister for law and order at a time of rising violence against blacks, showed his remorse by kneeling down and washing the feet of a former enemy who had been the subject of a state-sponsored assassination bid.
Frank Chikane, a leading African National Congress (ANC) official and church pastor, revealed at the weekend that Mr Vlok had arranged a meeting with him at Union Buildings in Pretoria at which the former government minister confessed that he had sinned against God and Mr Chikane and wanted forgiveness.
Mr Chikane said Mr Vlok came to his office last week and explained that the hatred generated by apartheid "derived from what he called lack of love and pride, and the belief that some in our country were superior to human beings of another race. . ."
According to Mr Chikane, Mr Vlok said he regarded the ANC official "as a representative and an embodiment of all the other people I should be talking to".
The former minister then opened his bag, took out a bowl and filled it with water. He also took out a towel "and said, 'you must allow me to do this'. . . and washed my feet in the office," said Mr Chikane, whose clothes were laced with lethal poison by state police in 1989.
Mr Chikane said he accepted Mr Vlok's apology.
The former minister, who left politics 12 years ago, had been the only member of government to seek amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He confessed before the forum to knowledge of a state-sponsored bombing campaign aimed against political opponents.