Civil Cooperation Bureau - Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Although the entire truth about the Civil Cooperation Bureau may never be known, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) concluded that:

"...the CCB was a creation of the SADF and an integral part of South Africa’s counter-insurgency system which, in the course of its operations, perpetrated gross violations of human rights, including killings, against both South African and non-South African citizens. The Commission finds that the activities of the CCB constituted a systematic pattern of abuse which entailed deliberate planning on the part of the leadership of the CCB and the SADF. The Commission finds these institutions and their members accountable for the aforesaid gross violations of human rights."

As per the policy of the TRC, its findings were set out, but no action was taken.

According to General Malan, the CCB's three objectives — comparable to those of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) — were:

  • to infiltrate and penetrate the enemy;
  • to gather Information; and
  • to disrupt the enemy.

In his testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Malan declared that he had never issued an order or authorised an order for the assassination of anybody, and that the killing of political opponents of the government never formed part of the brief of the South African Defence Force.

Read more about this topic:  Civil Cooperation Bureau

Famous quotes containing the words truth and/or commission:

    But nothing is better than a truth which appears not to have the semblance of truth. There is always something incomprehensible about the great heroic deeds performed by humanity because they rise so far beyond the mediocre measure of mere mortals; but it is always only because of the incredible feats that human beings have accomplished that humanity recovers its faith in itself.
    Stefan Zweig (18811942)

    It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.
    Thomas Paine (1737–1809)