Former apartheid-era law and order minister Adriaan Vlok has died at Unitas Hospital in Centurion on Sunday morning.

Family spokesperson Peet Bothma says Vlok passed away following a short illness at the age of 85.

“It is with great sorrow that the family announces that Adriaan Vlok, former minister of law and order and correctional services, died early this morning after a short sickbed,” a statement reads.

He is survived by his wife, three children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Vlok was renowned as the only apartheid minister to admit to human rights violations. This includes the bombings of the SA Council of Churches and Cosatu headquarters.

#OTD,1996- Apartheid era Min of Law and Order, Adriaan Vlok, applies to TRC for amnesty pic.twitter.com/rkTUwl7pvG

— Historian's History (@RareSApics) February 26, 2015

He was granted amnesty in 1999 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) after he testified about his role in apartheid brutality.

He was handed a 10-year suspended sentence for attempted murder after he pleaded guilty to instructing security police to kill anti-apartheid activist Frank Chikane in 2007.

He made headlines around the world when he washed the feet of Chikane and asked him for forgiveness in 2006.

He also washed the feet of 10 widows, and mothers of the Mamelodi 10, the anti-apartheid activist teenagers killed by apartheid police in 1986.

Bothma says funeral arrangements are being made and will be communicated.