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A-Team (Chesterville, Durban)

Explanation
The Chesterville A-Team, a state-sponsored vigilante group composed of Inkatha supporters, was set up by the Security Branch in 1985 in Chesterville, Durban, to counter the activities of the UDF, COSAS and other civic organisations in the area. Political tensions between UDF supporters and members of the Chesterville A-Team frequently resulted in attacks against UDF and ANC supporters.

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Who did you receive that instruction from? // As I mentioned in my application at that stage it was the then head of the Defence Force General Geldenhuys, he asked me to draw up this plan. // And that would have been a plan as you indicate in your amnesty application to be of support to the SAP in ...
I just remember feeling the most incredible rage and anger that he was ignoring me and that he was lying at the time, because he said ‘kandi shishi, kandi shishi,’ he doesn’t know anything. Then I brought the person that we’d captured the day before. They’d been travelling together and I ...
The leader of a gang that went on a stabbing spree near Durban’s beach front yesterday has been arrested. Reliable sources say … // … A knife wielding men left eight people injured. // [Inaudible] towers police chief Major-General IG Coetzee has called in a crack team of special ...
While proceedings inside the Truth Commission have captured most of the attention, there’s a lot of work being done outside it to compliment and sometimes question the work of Desmond Tutu’s team. Khulumani is one such organisation which has mobilized hundreds of victims in smaller groups in ...
There was a day in November that you were telling the Commission that an assault took place on Lolo Sono. Correct? // Yes. // Who were the people that participated in the assault? // It was Mrs. Mandela and Richardson and others. // Which particular person inflicted an injury to Mr. Sono and how ...
Well it certainly seems as if the Truth Commission process is gaining momentum. A lot of people who felt that the Truth Commission concentrated too much on the sad stories of victims and was not getting to the real story of our sordid past must be changing their minds. The Inkatha Freedom Party was ...
For us as a team it symbolized committing ourselves to reconciliation, the fact that we’ve come in, the fact that we work with the TRC on a frequent basis, we are also committed to reconciling South Africa as a whole. But what’s the symbol behind it from the TRC’s perspective? // Well for us ...
To qualify for protection witnesses have to fulfil certain requirements. // The requirements are that the evidence which the person wishes to place before the Commission must be truthful. Secondly, the person must be in danger as a result of that evidence. // When a person’s life is in danger the ...
Jacques, why should we believe this man, Joe Mamasela? // Mamasela has been cooperating with the Transvaal Attorney-General for several months now. He has given them invaluable information, he has made a full confession to them, and as a result of this confession they have launched a number of ...
The Commission also pressed the policemen on their apparent lack of thoroughness in all investigations relating to Madikizela-Mandela. // Could you tell me why further efforts weren’t taken to perhaps try and locate more witnesses or other evidence to corroborate the information that you had ...
The legal battles between the Truth Commission and police officers will continue this coming week. From the Special Report team, goodbye until next Sunday.
Johannes Beneke was not part of the interrogation team. He claimed that he intervened only when he heard shouts from the next room. // I heard loud talking in this back office and I went closer and in the door, which gave access to this office – while I stood there, I stopped there – I noticed ...
It just says fulfil these legal obligations and then we sweep the terrain clean and can start on a clean slate. // Let’s talk about the other leg, reconciliation. There’s been a lot of criticism that this has only been the opening of wounds and no real reconciliation. Do you agree with that? // ...
Over the past year and a half the faces on the Amnesty Committee have become well-known. We have seen them listen, probe, question and debate in hearings across the country. To date 53 amnesties have been granted and 39 refused. But the process is not only about hearings. Amnesty applications that ...
But let’s start at the beginning. In 1977 Winnie was banished to Brandfort. When she came back to Soweto after a severe illness in 1988 she must have harboured a great deal of frustration and anger about her treatment by the police. She surrounded herself with a group of boys and young men whom ...
Siphiwo Mtimkulu was the charismatic leader of the Congress of Students in Port Elizabeth in 1980. In May 1981 he was detained by the security police and only released five months later. // He admitted that he was ill. I wanted to know what was wrong with him. He stated that he had an excruciating ...
The Amnesty Committee moves to Bloemfontein this coming week and the Human Rights Violations Committee will sit in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. From the Special Report team, goodbye until next Sunday evening at eight.
‘Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Port Elizabeth’ // We’ve just touched down here in the Eastern Cape where the Truth Commission held its first Human Rights Violations hearings in April last year. The Special Report team hopes to speak to some of the first victims who told their stories to the ...
We are particularly outraged at her obvious complicity in the recent abductions and assault on young people like Stompie. We believe that had Stompie and his three colleagues not been abducted by Mrs. Mandela’s football team, he would have been alive today. The Mass Democratic Movement at this ...
During the second half of the 1980s many black communities were suffering under internal conflicts. Victim became perpetrator; perpetrator became victim. Let’s take a hard look at vigilantism and gangs. But first, the story of the notorious A-Team in Durban. This is Hané Koster’s report.
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