TRC Final Report

Volume 2

Chapter 4

Subsection 10

81 In a section 29 hearing of the Commission, former IFP National Council member Walter Felgate said that he had personally advised Chief Buthelezi of the need for a defensive and pre-emptive capacity for Inkatha. He said that what was envisaged was a “strike capacity” for the IFP; not simply a defensive group to look after KwaZulu government VIPs and property.

82 The outcome of these developments was the clandestine training of an offensive paramilitary unit, comprising 200 Inkatha supporters. They were trained by SADF Special Forces personnel in the Caprivi Strip, South West Africa/Namibia, during 1986.

83 The IFP submitted a list of over 400 alleged office-bearers who, according to the IFP, were deliberately targeted and killed by structures of the ANC and its affiliates. The IFP’s submission made it clear that it believed that the killings were part of a deliberate pattern of behaviour on the part of the ANC – in the words of the IFP, “serial killing”.

84 The Durban office of the Commission conducted an intensive investigation into those incidents that occurred in former Natal and KwaZulu. A significant percentage of the incidents on the list fell outside the Commission’s mandate, in that they occurred after the cut-off date of April 1994, and the Commission was thus not able to investigate them. However, it would be safe to assume, from the nature of the information provided by the IFP, that the trends and patterns with regard to these incidents would be similar to those which the Commission was able to investigate. As indicated above, those incidents that occurred in the Transvaal also fell outside the scope of this investigation, owing to limited investigative capacity.

85 The Commission investigated 289 incidents, of which it was unable to corroborate 136. In many cases, despite searches of inquest court records, police dockets and government departments supplying birth and death certificates, no trace whatsoever of the individuals could be found. In each of these cases, further information was sought from the IFP, without any success.

86 With regard to the remaining 153 incidents, the Commission did not verify as to whether the deceased were in fact office-bearers of the IFP, accepting the bona fides of the IFP in this regard. However, in a small number of incidents, death certificates show that the deceased were children and thus patently not office-bearers.

87 The Commission was able to identify the perpetrators or their political allegiance or both in ninety of the 289 incidents.

a UDF/ANC-aligned paramilitary structures were implicated in the killing of thirty-one IFP office-bearers.

b UDF/ANC-aligned community members or youth were implicated in the killing of thirty IFP office-bearers. These killings took place within the context of the ongoing IFP/ANC conflict.

c MK cadres were implicated in the killing of seven IFP office-bearers.

d UDF/ANC-aligned extra-judicial tribunals (‘people’s courts’) were implicated in the killing of eight IFP office-bearers (the primary reason found for the killings were matters such as witchcraft, personal relationships and crime).

e Members of the South African Police (SAP) were implicated in the killing of four IFP office-bearers, in the course of confiscating illegal weapons.

f IFP members were implicated in the killing of six IFP office-bearers due to internal rivalry within the IFP.

g Non-political criminals were implicated in the killing of four IFP office-bearers, in the course of ordinary criminal activities such as burglary.

h In three incidents, the deceased died in motor vehicle accidents or as a result of personal or domestic disputes;

i In four incidents, investigations proved that the ‘deceased’ were not in fact dead.

88 Accordingly, investigations reveal that ANC, UDF or MK structures were responsible for the killing of seventy-six IFP office-bearers during the period 1985-1994. In only two of the incidents did the perpetrators hold leadership positions in the UDF, ANC or MK. In eight of the incidents, the killings were administered by ‘people’s courts’ and it was not possible to establish whether the IFP members had been targeted because of their IFP membership. However, given the history of the conflict, it would seem safe to assume that membership of the IFP would have played a factor.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT, IN SEVENTY-SIX INCIDENTS, THE DECEASED WERE DELIBERATELY TARGETED BECAUSE THEY HELD POSITIONS WITHIN THE IFP. THE KILLINGS OF THESE IFP OFFICEBEARERS CONSTITUTE GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, AMOUNTING TO A SYSTEMATIC PATTERN OF ABUSE, ENTAILING DELIBERATE PLANNING, FOR WHICH THE RESPECTIVE LOCAL STRUCTURES OF THE UDF, ANC AND MK ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.