# Harms Commission > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Harms_Commission > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Harms_Commission.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harms_Commission > Source revision: 1322493953 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The **Harms Commission of Inquiry into Certain Alleged Murders**, known as the **Harms Commission**, was established by South African [apartheid](/source/Apartheid)-era President [F.W. de Klerk](/source/F.W._de_Klerk) on 31 January 1990 as a [public inquiry](/source/Public_inquiry) to investigate politically motivated assassinations of opponents of the apartheid regime by clandestine death squads within the [South African](/source/South_Africa) police and the army.[1][2] Chaired by Judge [Louis Harms](/source/Louis_Harms_(judge)), the hearings were held at the [Dutch Reformed Church](/source/Dutch_Reformed_Church) office building in downtown [Pretoria](/source/Pretoria) between February and September 1990. By June 1990, the commission had heard testimonies from 250 witnesses - ordinary people, policemen and members of the South African army's Civil Cooperation Bureau, an undercover military unit accused of murdering political opponents of the apartheid government.[3] ## Background The commission was established after a public outcry following disturbing revelations made in October 1989 by [Almond Nofomela](/source/Butana_Almond_Nofomela), an [askari](/source/Askari) who was based in [Vlakplaas](/source/Vlakplaas), of his membership in a police hits squad that targeted and killed activists of the [African National Congress](/source/African_National_Congress) (ANC) and [Pan Africanist Congress](/source/Pan_Africanist_Congress_of_Azania) (PAC). Nofomela revealed that his previous commander at Vlakplaas was [Dirk Coetzee](/source/Dirk_Coetzee). Coetzee confirmed Nofomela's claims. He gave details of this assassination squad to [Vrye Weekblad](/source/Vrye_Weekblad), an anti-apartheid [Afrikaans](/source/Afrikaans)-language weekly - shocikg the whole world. Soon after these revelations, De Klerk as President was put under immense public pressure to act on the allegations; which resulted in the establishment of the Harms Commission.[4][5] ## Findings Its findings were described as a "whitewash"[6] and "large-scale cover up",.[3] It was released on 13 November 1990 and rejected the allegations that the police and army had a death unit that clandestinely murdered opponents of the apartheid government . Three former police officers - [Dirk Coetzee](/source/Dirk_Coetzee), [Almond Nofomela](/source/Butana_Almond_Nofomela) and David Tshikalanga - were called to come testify at the inquiry and all gave evidence of their involvement in the Vlakplaas [counterinsurgent](/source/Counterinsurgent) assassination unit but Judge Harms rejected their evidence as being not trustable. Thus the assassinations of [Sizwe Kondile](/source/Sizwe_Kondile), [Griffiths Mxenge](/source/Griffiths_Mxenge), [David Webster](/source/David_Webster_(anthropologist)) and [Anton Lubowski](/source/Anton_Lubowski) remained a mystery; which forced De Klerk to establish another commission, the [Goldstone Commission](/source/Goldstone_Commission) in 1991.[7][8] ## References 1. [Human Rights Watch World Report 1990 - South Africa](https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/hrw/1991/en/34624), Refworld.org, 1 January 1991. Retrieved 28 January 2025 1. [[https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Commission_of_Inquiry_Into_Certain_Alleg.html?id=_3ANAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y](https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Commission_of_Inquiry_Into_Certain_Alleg.html?id=_3ANAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y)*Commission of Inquiry Into Certain Alleged Murders*: Report - 201 pages]. Author: L. T. C. Harms. South Africa: Government Printer. ISBN 9780621134100 1. [Witnesses hinder Pretoria inquiry](https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/18/world/witnesses-hinder-pretoria-inquiry.html), *New York Times*, 18 June 1990. Retrieved 28 January 2025 1. [Dirk Coetzee meets his end](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-08-dirk-coetzee-vlakplaas-commander-turned-whistleblower-meets-his-end/), Daily Maverick, 8 March 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2025 1. [Dipale comes down to two apartheid collaborators](https://www.ahmedtimol.co.za/dipale-truth-comes-down-to-two-apartheid-collaborators/), ahmedtimol.co.za, 12 March 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2025 1. *South Africa's death squads*, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law [A report by The Southern Africa Project PDF](https://projects.kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/210-808-3030/LAWCIVDeathSquads9-20-90opt.pdf), 20 September 1990. Page 69 1. [Harms releases report](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/harms-releases-his-report), sahistory.org.za, article published 16 March 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2025 1. [Dirk Jonanens Coetzee](https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/dirk-johannes-coetzee), sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 28 January 2025 ## Further reading - [[https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Commission_of_Inquiry_Into_Certain_Alleg.html?id=_3ANAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y](https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Commission_of_Inquiry_Into_Certain_Alleg.html?id=_3ANAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y)*Commission of Inquiry Into Certain Alleged Murders*: Report - 201 pages]. Author: L. T. C. Harms. South Africa: Government Printer. ISBN 9780621134100 ## External links - [Vlakplaas commander testifies at Harms Commission about secret police killings](https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/vlakplaas-commander-testifies-harms-commission-about-secret-police-killings-1981), sahistory.org.za, first published 16 March 2011 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Harms Commission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harms_Commission) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harms_Commission?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.