Some of the most sickeningly unforgettable testimony to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) concerned the activities of C1, a death squad he led which kidnapped, tortured and killed opponents of apartheid.
He continued to practice as a cardiologist in Cape Town and only now faces being struck off the doctors' register, having been found guilty in 2013 of unprofessional conduct by a practitioners' council.That some of apartheid's killers are free yet vilified, while others are jailed yet now championed by their victims, points to the value of the TRC.
Housed in an elegant building next to a garish casino on the edge of Johannesburg, it carries on where the TRC left off.
The pair received amnesty from the TRC for other crimes but did not admit at the time to giving the orders to have Mr Chikane's underwear laced with poison, which almost killed him.Last year, a remorseful Mr Vlok washed Mr Chikane's feet in a very public display of contrition.
The case has fuelled speculation over whether other apartheid apparatchiks might follow them and heated up a debate over whether political crimes should still be prosecuted.The TRC was set up in 1995 to ease South Africa's peaceful transition to democracy and encourage reconciliation by shedding some light on the atrocities committed during apartheid.
Eugene de Kock, who headed the infamous Vlakplaas hit squad and appeared in front of the TRC, has accused F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid president, who negotiated the political transition with the now-ruling African National Congress (ANC), of having blood on his hands.
For a limited period, the TRC offered amnesty for crimes committed both by the apartheid regime and the liberation movements, on the condition that the perpetrators disclosed fully all the relevant facts and demonstrated that their actions were politically motivated.
Nearly 7,000 policemen, soldiers, spies and others applied for amnesty to the widely lauded Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which offered immunity from prosecution in return for full disclosure.
The TRC was considered a success, and other troubled countries seek to emulate it.
Others argued that the TRC was biased and refused to come forward.
They argue that Mr de Kock is one of the very few apartheid figures to have served jail-time after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) ruled his crimes were not politically motivated.
