Notorious ‘SOWETO’ policeman dies

Newspaper warning to Soweto residents

Date: 7 Jul 1998
Updated: 7 Jul 2026

Brigadier Theuns Swanepoel ("Rooi Rus"), one of the most feared interrogators of the South African Security Police, dies in Roodepoort. Brigadier Swanepoel is notorious for ordering the police to shoot at protesting school children in 16 June 1976. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1998 described him as a policeman "who already had a long history of human rights violations as chief interrogator of the security branch". Swanepoel told the TRC: "I made my mark. I let it be known to the rioters I would not tolerate what was happening. I used appropriate force. In Soweto and Alexandra where I operated, that broke the back of the organisers." Brig. Swanepoel died at the age of 70 the 7th of July 1998.

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01Johnson, R.w., (1998), South Africa's torturer dies without confessing, from Independent ie,14 July [online],Available at www.independent.ie [Accessed:6 July 2013]

Last updated · 7 Jul 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Notorious ‘SOWETO’ policeman dies. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013367

South African History Online (2011) 'Notorious ‘SOWETO’ policeman dies', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013367 (Accessed: 28 September 2026).

South African History Online, Notorious ‘SOWETO’ policeman dies [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013367, (accessed 28 September 2026).

"Notorious ‘SOWETO’ policeman dies." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013367. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Notorious ‘SOWETO’ policeman dies." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013367.