self-defence units (SDUs)

... to complicity in unlawful activity by other security f o rce structures. In several incidents, evidence was led about approaches to b o rder patrol units or those stationed at border posts to ensure free passage for covert units. Furthermore, several names of investigating officers attached to ...

period. In addition, homeland armies were established in each of the independent bantustans. At the same time, regional, ethnically constituted SADF units were set up to serve the self-governing homelands as independent armies-in-waiting. Security legislation in the TBVC states was enacted to ...

... applicants claimed that armed robberies were committed on the instructions of the APLA High Command as part of the work of APLA ‘re possession units’ in order to raise funds and/or obtain weapons and vehicles to enable APLA to carry out its military strategy. These operatives killed ...

... of MK activities from the beginning of 1988. He alleges that the Soweto Intelligence Unit (SIU), which he commanded, identified a number of MK units which were planning to attack SAP targets. The units operated from within organisations such as the Soweto Youth Congress (SOYCO) and the South ...

... was essentially a reaction to the disorder and political unrest arising from resistance to apartheid. Although the names and structures of the units tasked with this specialist function changed a number of times during the three decades under examination, and implementation devolved to ...

... exhumed from a pauper’s grave at Groutville on 5 May 1997. Khubeka was allegedly an MK member who co-ordinated the external and internal combat units. Durban Security Branch members arrested her in May 1987. She allegedly died of a heart attack during interrogation. The possibility that she ...

... policing, among them the riot police and later the SADF. Thirdly, counter-insurgency thinking legitimated and facilitated the emergence of covert units such as Vlakplaas, and resulted in an increase in the number of reported abductions and killings of political activists. This trend intensified ...

... issues must, however, be viewed against the larger political conflict and violence being sponsored by the former state. 92. In Gauteng, the Tokoza units stayed in close contact with the ANC, and the local branch played a monitoring and disciplinary role. Despite this, these units were also ...

... PREMISES OR BY THE SAME NAMED PERPETRATORS LEND AUTHENTICITY TO THESE ACCOUNTS. IN THE PENINSULA, THIS TORTURE WAS NOTABLY ASSOCIATED WITH CERTAIN UNITS OF THE SECURITY FORCES, NAMELY THE SECURITY BRANCH, PARTICULARLY THE TERRORISM TRACKING UNIT, AND THE UNREST INVESTIGATION UNITS. THE ...

... increasingly embroiled in internal conflict and territorial disputes, leading, in the most extreme circumstances, to the mass execution of rival units. The SDUs also increasingly took on the role of self-appointed ‘community police’, often becoming violent moral arbiters in community ...

... initiative, you rely on the initiative of the individual and everybody in MK was being prepared in fact to become a Commander. 38. Whilst some units testified to the fact that decisions were taken by consensus, there is no doubt that that a number of civilians were killed because of the ...

... cache unearthed in KwaZulu-Natal during 1999, which was provided to the IFP by Vlakplaas, ostensibly for the purpose of training self-protection units. The Commission received a number of amnesty applications corroborating this evidence from both Vlakplaas and IFP operatives. Eugene de Kock, ...

... torture without fear of consequences. The testimony of many askaris at amnesty hearings was at odds with that of white members in their particular units. In their testimony, askaris highlighted the brutality of the torture and abuse that many abductees were subjected to. The cases of Nokuthula ...

... can be little doubt that, in setting up these covert death squads, the former state could have had no misunderstanding about the intention of these units, and indeed intended that those identified as political opponents would be identified, targeted for assassination and ultimately killed. When a ...

... be contextualised. At the time, the country was engulfed in violence in which the apartheid state was the primary actor. It had established covert units, including death squads, whose main intention was to assassinate those considered to be political opponents, and was using all its might to ...

... landmines were approved for use; anti-personnel mines were specifically excluded. The targets were military personnel, both regular and combat units made up of farmers in the militarised border zones near Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The landmines were placed mainly in the borde r a ...

PART THREE: KEY SECURITY FORCE UNITS INVOLVED IN GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS SECURITY BRANCH HEADQUARTERS 155. The Headquarters of the Security Branch was based in Pretoria. Until 1992, the Security Branch was organised centrally, with headquarters in Pretoria and nineteen regional divisions ...

failed to pay proper re g a rd to the evidence before the Court and its judgment. The TRC in making certain findings in relation to self protection units misconceived their true nature. The training of SPUs was legal and was intended to achieve legal purposes relating to community policing and ...

the Commissioners, namely the Revd Dr Khoza Mgojo, as having been ‘personally involved in supplying arms used in the seven-day war to the fighting units in Richmond’. According to Mr Mncwango, the late Mr Sifiso Nkabinde said in an affidavit that Dr Mgojo had ‘used the Federal Theological ...

... their release . Abductions/disappearances 106. Evidence from amnesty applications and hearings reveals that the Security Forces (including covert units, the Security Branch and the SADF) engaged in abduction operations inside and outside South Africa. The main purpose of the abductions was ...