by Brian Williams
Head of the police’s Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) Andre Lincoln, who survived many threats on his life, recently had his legs amputated below the knee. He is also waiting for a heart transplant. Ironically, the amputation improved his heart condition.
Lincoln, one of the most ethical officers democratic South Africa produced, left the police service last month.
He was first appointed as the Head of the Presidential Investigation Task Unit in 1996, by then president Nelson Mandela, to conduct high-level investigations. Lincoln was also one Mandela’s specialist body guards whose role and prominence made him the target of many powerful individuals and criminal entities.
Eventually, he was removed from the position after he was convicted of 17 counts of fraud in 2003.
His enemies successfully conspired and buried him but did not realise he was a divine seed. It was in the darkness and heartbeat of the earth that Lincoln breathed. The burial site was transformed into a peace garden and the adversity merely served to strengthen him to break free and flower ever brighter.
It took six painful years but, in 2009, the Western Cape High Court eventually acquitted on all the false charges. He was reinstated but at a lower rank and lesser remuneration. His seniors isolated him from mainstream police work, but he continued to shine and his successes could not be ignored.
When uninterrupted rivers of blood soaked the soil of the Cape Flats and cries reached the heavens for the gang killings to stop, General Andre Lincoln was appointed AGU head.
The public fanfare in launching the AGU took place in November 2018 in Hanover Park where President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation.
Lincoln and his team immediately made significant impacts and reduced the murder rate despite the significant absence of resources.
Who is Andre Lincoln and what shaped him to become one of the most influential police officers in a democratic South Africa?
The story of Lincoln is the story of the earth, the universe and our wider sense of humanity. Seasons are interconnected to other eco-systems but serving one greater purpose, the elevation of life.
He emerged from the joyful darkness of his mother’s womb and entered into a new world fraught with dangers. But his protective parents, Reginald and Wilma, prepared him for the ever-present threats in society. They made sure he would be grounded as a Catholic, in the traditions of justice and peace. These enduring principles steered him towards the chapters of his life which unfolded in dramatic ways within the greater South African story.
Apartheid had reached unholy levels of depravity and Lincoln made a decision to become part of the liberation movement to free South Africa. He graciously credits me as being the inspiration for his decisions to commit his life to justice and peace.
Lincoln was nurtured for this role in society through a series of events from within his home, the Saint Luke Catholic Church in Factreton-Kensington and, of course, his many principled choices which placed him on the path to oppose injustice and promote peace.
Lincoln joined the underground movement and linked up with the ANC. He became part of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) as an intelligence officer. This decision was life-threatening. Many others from the Cape Flats who joined the underground were killed.
The apartheid regime had hit squads operating with the express purpose of murdering the opponents of apartheid, but Lincoln was able to evade them and convince some apartheid security agents to join MK. One of them was Neil de Beer who publicly acknowledged the role Lincoln had played in his defection to join MK.
Lincoln has an unblemished record. All attempts to tarnish his reputation have failed. He was unlawfully out of the police for six years and sued the State. He won in the Western Cape High Court but lost in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
This hero of our democracy is burdened with a R5 million legal bill but will triumph over this tragedy. He lives the immortal words of Saint Francis of Assisi, that “all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle”.
His eternal legacy as that single candle, will guide the next chapter of his life of peace.
* Professor Brian Williams is Visiting Professor in Peace, Mediation and Labour Relations: University of the Sacred Heart, Gulu, Uganda; chief executive: Williams Labour Law and Mediation; Thought Leader Award Recipient for 2018 (Black Management Forum); International Award-winning poet: seven books published.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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