self-defence units (SDUs)

... from Inkatha perpetrators, from township ‘vigilante groups’, from torturers or from African National Congress (ANC)-aligned self-defence units (SDUs). Documentary evidence is thus only partly available. Furthermore, the precise question of motives of perpetrators was often not fully ...

... THE STATES OF EMERGENCY; RECOMMENDED THE ADOPTION OF PRINCIPLES OF COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE WHICH LED TO THE INCREASED DEPLOYMENT OF SPECIAL UNITS OF THE SADF IN SUPPORT OF THE SAP IN SOUTH AFRICA, RESULTING IN A SHIFT OF FOCUS IN POLICING FROM ARRESTING AND CHARGING OPPONENTS OF THE ...

and M sections as he had a grudge against them. He was always saying the people from there (L) killed Goniwe [a councillor].’ 56 ANC self-defence units 375 During 1992 and 1993, at least one SDU was responsible for multiple attacks in Khayelitsha (see below). 54 South, 20 February 1992 55 ...

... to the army and of black youth recruited into MK and, especially, through the formation of SDUs and SPUs (self-defence and special protection units). 95 For many white youth who were conscripted into the Defence Force, the nature of the war had varied psychological effects. Guerrilla ...

... not be underestimated, especially when this entailed long periods of covert operations. The members of the security forces, especially in covert units … saw themselves as the elite frontline troops in a critically important theatre of the overall war. Security force successes … produced ...

... special hearing on children and youth in Johannesburg, Mr George Ndlozi gave testimony on the activities of young people involved in self-defence units (SDUs) on the East Rand during the early 1990s. He insisted that “far from being a bunch of undisciplined comrades or the lost generation, ...

... General Steyn’s instruction. Two joint teams, consisting of inspector general and counter intelligence personnel, were appointed to visit all units and to identify records for destruction. A countrywide destruction exercise followed. This exercise failed, by and large, to produce the ...

... Human Rights Violations Committee did not set guidelines on levels of corroboration, the process of investigation devolved on the investigation units themselves. This accounts for regional variations in the investigative process. 40 Each investigator was assigned to the corroboration of ...

... a farm near Pretoria. Simultaneously, the SADF launched Operation Winter to recruit mainly white members of Rhodesia’s various counter-insurgency units. The operation was directed by Major General FW Loots, then general officer commanding of Special Forces, who personally travelled to Rhodesia ...

... and air attacks. In its advance towards SWAPO headquarters near Cuvelai, a major battle developed between South African forces and Angolan Army units aided by two Cuban battalions. According to the SADF, this was the biggest encounter between South African and Angolan Army forces of the ...

appears to have agreed that, rather than establishing a separate ‘third force’, the existing capacity of the SAP’s counter-insurgency and riot units would be expanded and re-organised. The group also recognised that whatever was decided in regard to this issue was not going to solve the ...

... (1984-8); Col. CAJ Meerholz (1988-90); Col. AG ‘Bertie’ Sachse (1990-3); and Col. JW Engelbrecht (1993-). South African Army 55 Specialist units of the Army included 32 Battalion and the 44 Parachute Brigade. Battalion 32 56 32 Battalion, often referred to as the ‘Buffalo ...

... and the IFP were victims of aggression by supporters of the United Democratic Front (UDF), the African National Congress (ANC) and its self-defence units (SDUs) is documented in the Liberation Movements chapter of this volume. 196 The KwaZulu Legislative Assembly (KLA) was established in 1972, ...

... of attacks on liberation movement supporters from 1990, several local communities, especially in Khayelitsha and Nyanga, set up self-defence units to patrol affected areas at night. SANCO was instrumental in this process, and there are allegedly instances of community collections to fund ...

... equal. It accounted for many of the terrorists eliminated by the Security Forces during 1986, and had the best combat record of all SWA and RSA units during the year. 94 In 1978 the 44th Parachute Brigade was formed, as well as 4 Reconnaissance Regiment, a seaborne Special Forces unit based ...

twenty-five South Africans, members of one or other of the SADF’s Reconnaissance Regiments, and eighteen former members of such Rhodesian military units as the Selous Scouts, SAS, Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) or the Special Branch. One of the former Congo mercenaries, Mr Jeremiah Puren, was ...

... anti-terrorist unit known as Unit 19 or the Special Task Force. The Special Task Force played an important role in the training of the police Riot Units established at more or less the same time. Based in several centres around the country, its recruits were drawn largely from those with ...

... in the 1980s where the South African Defence Force (SADF) was involved in various levels of warfare in six Southern African states, while covert units conducted attacks particularly in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (the BLS states). Additionally, in the early 1980s, South African security ...

... to civilian casualties. 134 While such armed attacks continued to raise the profile of the ANC, individual members of ANC underground political units played a crucial role in the formation of mass organisations such as COSAS, civic structures and militant trade unions that were to unite under ...

... 284. F rom 1989, APLA cadres were infiltrated into the country and established asself - reliant, easily-manageable and controllable task force units of no more than three guerrillas. They consisted of a political commissar, whose brief was to make sure that all operations enhanced the PA C ...