Hermanus du Plessis

Hermanus Barend du Plessis was a South African policeman, torturer and assassin for the apartheid government.
Du Plessis joined the South African police after matriculation in the 1960s. In the 1980s, he was appointed the provincial commander of a unit of the Security Branch responsible for counterinsurgency in the Eastern Cape province's areas of black people. In 1990, he was appointed as chief investigator of the Harms Commission.

Roles in assassinating anti-Apartheid activists

Du Plessis was the last living suspect with outstanding criminal liability for apartheid-era killings. His death in 2023 effectively closed the door on prosecutions for the Cradock Four case, leaving families without legal closure.

After Nelson Mandela was elected the first democratic president of South Africa in 1994, his government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address crimes relating to human rights violations and the convicted du Plessis appeared before the commission to apply for amnesty.
He confessed being involved in the murders of the Cradock Four, kidnapping and murder of Sizwe Kondile in 1981, kidnapping and murder of Siphiwe Mthimkulu and Thobekile ‘Topsy’ Madaka in 1982; and ordering the abduction and murder of Sipho Charles Hashe, Qaqawuli Godolozi and Champion Galela in May 1985.
In December 1999, the inquiry denied him and five other policemen amnesty for the murders of the Cradock Four and the Pebco Three.
He was granted amnesty for kidnapping and murdering Kondile, Mthimkhulu and Madaka.
In his sworn affidavit at the inquiry, du Plessis stated in part: