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| Apartheid minister pleads guilty | |
| (about 8 hours later) | |
| South Africa's apartheid-era Police Minister Adriaan Vlok has pleaded guilty to charges of plotting to kill a prominent regime opponent in 1989. | |
| He and four others are accused of trying to kill Frank Chikane in 1989 by lacing his clothes with a nerve toxin. | |
| Correspondents say the alleged plot was one of the most striking cases of the regime's attempts to silence opponents. | Correspondents say the alleged plot was one of the most striking cases of the regime's attempts to silence opponents. |
| Rev Chikane, who is now a director in the president's office, says he does not want to see the men go to prison. | |
| Mr Vlok begged for forgiveness from Mr Chikane last year by washing his feet. | Mr Vlok begged for forgiveness from Mr Chikane last year by washing his feet. |
| Old divisions | |
| The BBC's Peter Greste in Pretoria says two protests are taking place outside the High Court where his trial is taking place. | |
| How can there be reconciliation when there is no justice? Former ANC activist Zweli Mkhize Apartheid crimes dilemma | |
| One is calling for justice for the victims of the apartheid regime while the other is demanding that, if the former regime officials are to go to court, then so too should members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). | |
| "If the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) perseveres in not treating the ANC's leaders equally to other offenders, then any further prosecutions will amount to selective morality and a witch hunt," Afrikaans civil rights group, Afri-forum, said in a statement reported by the AFP news agency. | |
| But victims of apartheid feel justice should be served. | |
| "How can there be reconciliation when there is no justice?" former ANC activist Zweli Mkhize told AP news agency. | |
| Rev Chikane has never called for prosecutions | Rev Chikane has never called for prosecutions |
| Our correspondent says the rival demonstrations underline what some commentators have been arguing, that the process of prosecutions only reopens old divisions. | |
| The NPA accuses Mr Vlok, ex-police chief Johan van der Merwe and three others of conspiring to murder Mr Chikane, when he was secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches. | |
| They allegedly attempted to assassinate the clergyman by placing underwear impregnated with a powerful nerve toxin in his suitcase while he was travelling. | They allegedly attempted to assassinate the clergyman by placing underwear impregnated with a powerful nerve toxin in his suitcase while he was travelling. |
| Mr Vlok and Mr van der Merwe were in charge of law and order in South Africa during the late 1980s - a period when emergency laws granted police sweeping powers of arrest and detention against anti-apartheid activists. | |
| The three other accused were lower ranking police officers at the time. | |
| Mr Chikane, who is now director-general of President Thabo Mbeki's office, has called for others to come forward and reveal what happened, but has never called for prosecutions. | Mr Chikane, who is now director-general of President Thabo Mbeki's office, has called for others to come forward and reveal what happened, but has never called for prosecutions. |