TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 5

Subsection 56

Examples of balaclava-type actions

376 Amongst the many anonymous attacks that besieged in particular, the different sections of Khayelitsha, it is not possible to allocate responsibility for specific attacks or conflicts to a particular group. Statements made to the Commission or NGO affidavits by those attacked often tended to link particular groups to responsibility for the attack. These perceptions cannot always be confirmed with the available information. Not all individuals involved in such attacks were actually wearing balaclavas and some statements did identify individuals, most commonly councillors.

377 The Commission received several statements concerning ANC or civic-linked individuals who were wounded or killed in balaclava attacks. A few of these are summarised below as examples.

378 On 22 July 1992, close to midnight, Mr Nelson Sithole [CT00159] and Mr Mandla Tshuku were led into their house by two balaclava-clad men dressed like policemen, carrying rifles. They ordered the thirteen people present to lie down. They demanded to know who Nelson Sithole was. When they recognised Sithole, they took him to another shack where he was shot dead.

379 The family of ANC chairperson Solomon Tshuku [CT00407] was attacked in their Site C home on 15 August 1991. His wife Nophumzile, and four of their children were killed by a group of balaclava-clad men who then set the shack alight. Three children, Abigail Mbimbi, Nomanqulo and Nolundi (16) were killed on the scene and Mncedisi (20) died of gunshot wounds in hospital. Only his nine-yearold daughter Nondumiso survived the massacre. Nondumiso reportedly said her life was spared by a gunman who said: “Let’s not kill her, she is too young”. Tshuku’s nephew testified that:

When my uncle came back from work and he saw all the mess of the corpses lying over he nearly committed suicide. He nearly hurt himself with a weapon that he used to use at work. That led to it that he should be under guard all the time so that he should not commit suicide. Even at work, he had to be under strict guard and the members of the organisation used to go and watch him and try and keep him company so that he should not think deeply about this horrible incident.’

380 On the night of 18/19 February 1992, ANC members Nontsiki Florence Falakhe and Temba Boto and their children Portia (12) and Tumeka Falakhe (6) [CT01563] were killed when their shack was set alight in D Section, Site C. Another person was found in the vicinity dying of gunshot wounds in the neck. Witnesses said ‘Afrikaans-speaking’ people accompanied by men wearing blue overalls set alight shacks in Khayelitsha during the night. They said the men fired shots in the air to prevent families fleeing. Deponent Mr Walawa Falakhe, Nontsiki’s brother, who was in the neighbouring shack also confirmed hearing Afrikaans-speakers during the attack. Falakhe asserts that the attackers were supporters of mayor Hoza.

381 During July, August and September 1991, but particularly during 1–8 September, a series of attacks took place predominantly in Site B. A litany of affidavits were taken by a group of NGOs and political parties⁵⁷ who attempted to raise the issue with the police. Collectively, it was estimated that around 250 shacks were razed, at least fifteen people killed, 100 injured and about 1 000 people left homeless. Common features in many of the statements include the sighting of whites amongst the group and the use of Afrikaans. Survivors stated that more than fifty men, armed with guns, pangas and petrol bombs had invaded the area. At least eighteen people were treated for panga wounds.

382 The ANC held a press conference at which it alleged police collusion and produced a police cap belonging to a Sergeant Hendricks. They claimed that ‘comrades’ had tried to capture one of the white attackers dressed in a camouflage uniform. Police said that the cap belonged to an SAP member “who, during the course of the night, attempted to arrest a suspected arsonist. While giving chase, he lost the cap”.

383 At least three people were killed on 18 December 1991 when an attempted assassination of ANC member Nomonde Dinwa [CT08613] turned into a wider attack. Ms Dinwa was present on the scene and, in a statement to UMAC, identified some of the attackers as members of the Lingelethu West town council, one of whom wore a woman’s dress. Those killed were Ms Agnes Maseti [CT03025], Mr Lumkile Maxiti [CT00278], and Mr Shadrack Jongikhaya Witbooi [CT00278/ HEL]. Several others were wounded. Ms Julie Maseti spoke of the attack:

It was on the 18 December 1991 when my mother Agnes Maseti was shot dead by ‘balaclavas’. I was staying at Site B Khayelitsha when this incident took place. There was fire all over our area. Most of the houses were set alight by the ‘balaclavas’. There was a big fight between comrades and Hoza’s people. On this particular evening some people wearing balaclavas were looking for a woman known as comrade Nomonde. She was not staying far from my mother’s house. They decided to burn all houses which were near to hers. They could not find her. Children were shot at and I remember that two other people died on the same night as my mother. I will never forget this night.

384 Maseti also said that some of the attackers were dressed in women’s dresses. This was independently confirmed by Nonikile Maxiti: “We could not see any one’s face. All these people who were shooting were wearing women’s clothes and wearing balaclavas covering their faces.” Her husband Lumkile was shot dead and Nonikile herself was wounded, as was her baby Masizi Maxiti. A second baby, Sipokazi Mnama [CT08612] was also wounded.

THE COMMISSION RECOGNISES THAT ANONYMOUS SO-CALLED ‘BALACLAVA’ VIOLENCE INVOLVED A RANGE OF PARTICIPANTS, RANGING FROM ELEMENTS WITHIN THE LINGELETHU WEST TOWN COUNCIL, WECUSA, THE POLICE, THE ANC, TAXI GROUPINGS AND CRIMINAL GROUPS.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE CUMULATIVE EVIDENCE OF STATEMENTS MADE TO THE COMMISSION, NGO AFFIDAVITS, AND IN PARTICULAR THE STATEMENT BY MR MICHAEL MVOKWE, OVERWHELMINGLY LINKS THE LINGELETHU WEST TOWN COUNCIL TO INCIDENTS OF BALACLAVA ATTACKS. THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THIS GROUPING WAS LARGELY ABLE TO OPERATE WITHOUT FEAR OF INTERFERENCE FROM SECURITY FORCES, OR FEAR OF PROSECUTION. PROSECUTIONS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN WITHDRAWN OR DISMISSED.

IT IS BELIEVED BY NGOS AND ACCEPTED BY THE COMMISSION THAT WECUSA INITIATED HIT SQUAD ACTIVITIES ON MEMBERS OF THE LIBERATION MOVEMENT, AND THAT THIS WAS DONE ON OCCASION IN ALLIANCE WITH MEMBERS OF THE LINGELETHU WEST TOWN COUNCIL FROM 1991.