TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 3

Subsection 27

183 The Commission heard that, in October 1986, approximately fifteen to twenty ‘Caprivi trainees’ were told to report to the police station in the township of Mpumalanga, outside Durban. Although they never underwent any KZP training, screening or tests and never filled in any KZP application forms, the trainees were issued with KZP certificates appointing them to the rank of detective constable. They were also issued with official police firearms, which they were allowed to take home with them. Most of them were sent to guard the homes of chiefs [amaKhosi], indunas and councillors in the areas surrounding Pietermaritzburg. Each trainee was expected to identify local Inkatha youth and train them in weapon handling and combat skills.

184 The SAP policed the Mpumalanga township until February 1989, when policing was handed over to the KZP. Under the guise of official law enforcement agents, the ‘Caprivi trainee’ constables engaged in large-scale hit-squad activities in the Pietermaritzburg/Mpumalanga area for two years, directing their attacks against perceived UDF/ANC members.

185 Mr Zweli David Dlamini [AM3685/96] was part of the group assigned to the Mpumalanga police station. He was issued with a false KZP appointment certificate, a 7.65mm pistol and ammunition. Dlamini spoke of the activities of the trainees in the Mpumalanga area at a special Commission hearing on Caprivi Training:

Dlamini: At night if there was a chance, we will go out to hit or attack the UDF people.

Question: And what prompted you to carry out these attacks, you and these others?

Dlamini: We were trained and we knew that we were trained to kill only. There wasn’t anything that we knew. Our enemy, the UDF, was operating in those areas where we were working, therefore if you happened to meet a UDF member you have to shoot.

186 Members of the local KZP station aided the operatives by transporting them to and from the scene of attacks, warning them of possible ANC attacks and providing them with firearms. Certain members of the Pietermaritzburg Security Branch, Riot Unit 8 and Military Intelligence also assisted in the provision of weapons.

187 At the same hearing, former political commissar and commander of the ‘Caprivi trainees’, Daluxolo Luthuli [AM4075/96], described the role of the ‘Caprivi trainees’ in Mpumalanga as follows:

During the day the Caprivians worked as police, go out of the police station, do their raids. However, in the evening they have to take off their uniform and get involved in the struggle. When I refer to ‘struggle’ I mean it’s getting themselves to do what they were trained to do in Caprivi.

188 Luthuli applied for amnesty in respect of his involvement in the conflict in Mpumalanga during this period. He told the Commission:

During this period, there were literally hundreds of incidents where attacks were launched against UDF people, property or homes. It is impossible for me to record the extent of these attacks. The comrades responded by attacking us with equal vigour. A state of war existed between us. I often played a command role in directing our attacks. I did the following: arranged for arms and ammunition; distributed arms and ammunition; gathered fighting men; chose people who would lead the attacks and different aspects of the attacks; decided on the strategy of an attack; decided on the target or area to be attacked.

After the attack, I arranged for injured persons to be medically treated by sending them to clinics or hospitals; collected firearms and ammunition and stored them safely; arranged our defensive structures and strategies; reported back to the planning committee through MZ Khumalo.

The Summertime House Attack

Luthuli gave information about an attack on a UDF meeting at a house named ‘Summertime’ in Unit 1 South Mpumalanga on 18 January 1988. About 300 people were gathered at the house for the meeting. Luthuli did not participate in the attack himself but sent a group led by Mr Phumlani Xolani Mshengu [AM4075/96] and including Mr Sbu Bhengu, members of the Inkatha youth and other ‘Caprivi trainees’. According to Luthuli:

“Phumlani Mshengu and Sbu Bhengu were armed with two of our AK-47 rifles. The Inkatha Youth members were also armed with whatever arms we were able to lay our hands on. The group approached the house and commenced firing on the people who were there. From there they went on and attacked other houses. They destroyed approximately eight houses and killed about nine people.” [AM 4075/96]

The Commission established that the deceased included Mr Mfanafuthi Gasa, Mr Kinathi Mabhida, Mr Musa Khoza, Mr Thomas Mncwabe, Thomas’s brother and a man identified only as ‘Rolla’. People in the area told the Commission that an estimated 200 people were injured during this attack.

Former UDF member John Mazwazwa told the Commission that on the day before the meeting at Summertime house, he and other UDF members had expressed concern for the safety of the school children because the new school term was about to begin. Mr Katiza Cebekhulu, who came from the area, was called in because of his claim earlier that he had a police connection who could protect the UDF against an Inkatha attack. At the Summertime house meeting the next day, Cebekhulu allegedly undertook to telephone the police to tell them of the gathering and to ask them to patrol the area. Within two minutes of Cebekhulu’s departure, the attack began.

The attack was registered at Hammarsdale police station under CR184/01/ 88. The Commission was unable to locate this docket either at Hammarsdale or Mpumalanga. However, it was established that attacks on other houses and people in the area on the same night were listed under Hammarsdale CR182/01/88 to CR202/01/88. Of these, eight dockets were missing. In none of these cases was there a prosecution.

189 The activities of the ‘Caprivi trainees’ extended also to the freehold township of Clermont, north-west of Durban. In the early 1980s, Clermont was one of the townships identified for incorporation into the KwaZulu homeland. The campaign for incorporation was led by leading Inkatha member Bekizizwe Samuel Jamile, then KwaZulu Deputy Minister of the Interior and a resident of Clermont.