Vlok Flocks to Chicken’s, I Mean Chikane’s, Feet
This is a Bizarre SA story that a person of my disposition can’t help but breathe a few moments of extra life into. Over the weekend, a notorious apartheid-era government henchman, Adriaan Vlok (former Minister of Law and Order), traipsed down to Soweto and knocked at the door of the Rev. Frank Chikane, who is Director-General in the Presidency, and a former head of the SA Council of Churches.
There, after spluttering a nebulous apology, Vlok washed the Reverend’s feet, apparently in the hopes of receiving a bit of absolution from some higher power for the heinous crimes committed under his watch (and, presumably, supervision) – such as the near-fatal poisoning of none other than the Rev. Frank Chikane, in the late-1980s.
Vlok’s act – which strikes Your Correspondent as deeply offensive to many a South African’s sense of justice – has been roundly lambasted and scorned. Including, now, by implication, here.