In her book, A Human Being Died that Night: A South African story of forgiveness, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela recounts the story of her meeting the man known as ‘Prime Evil’. During the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions tribunals, the murders of numerous black families during apartheid by Eugene de Kock , former colonel of the South African Police Services and commander of the counter insurgency group (C1), came to light.
While serving his 212 year sentence for crimes against humanity in Pretoria’s maximum security prison, de Kock has been interviewed and visited numerous times by Gobodo-Madikizela – psychologist who served on the TRC and township born local South African. The encounters with the dark mind of state-sanctioned mass murder are recounted in her novel along with her experiences on the TRC to provide the most intimate meeting with the human face of evil since Dead Man Walking and Capote.
The TRC meetings gave voice to both murderer and victims, which Gobodo-Madikizela provides a deep empathy for in her novel while also giving an account of a moral person’s decent into the mind of a killer. The tale too, addresses the issues surrounding the forgiveness of such national atrocities, and crimes against humanity.
A Human Being Died that Night: A South Africa story of forgiveness is available on WantItAll for 50 percent off.
