self-defence units (SDUs)

this stage was ostensibly as a place to rehabilitate 'turned terrorists' or, as they were called, askaris. The askaris were eventually divided into units and supervised by white security police, and it was this change that transformed Vlakplaas into a counter-insurgency unit. The units responded ...

... the MK high command were tried, an attempt was made to reconstitute the high command, but all its members were subsequently arrested. The internal units of MK were in disarray, and any Natal operatives who were not in prison or on trial went into exile. About 800 MK cadres were in exile by 1965, ...

of being informants, collaborators and members of the IFP. In many instances, identification was made on spurious grounds. Many young members of SDU units were involved in reconnaissance work, the cleaning of weapons and lesser offences such as the collection of money from residents for ...

... until March/April 1997 that regional offices began to have the capacity to corroborate claims. Once funding was available, regional investigation units were able to identify and employ staff to serve as corroborative assistants. In consequence, the work output of corroboration teams increased, ...

Security force units involved in public order policing 125 The highest number of security force shootings in the western Cape during the Commission’s mandate period occurred in August to November 1985, constituting the peak of the political revolt in the western Cape. These shootings were ...

... and order’ in Bonteheuwel. The first part was to upgrade the Bonteheuwel area; the second, the establishment of special Unrest Investigation Units to crack down on people held responsible for political unrest. 317 The Unrest Investigation Units were made up of SAP members deployed from ...

... of the activities of the BMW more than 100 members were involved in its networks. The BMW, operating in small cells, comprised several types of units that adopted increasingly sophisticated ‘urban guerrilla’ strategies. Groups of youths participated in stone-throwing and street ...

... On 6 March 1994, an IFP official and AWB members attacked the Flagstaff police station with the intention of obtaining arms for IFP self-protection units.1 8 9 In the course of the attack, they killed Constable Barnabas Jaggers and wounded Constable Wele Nyangana and Inspector Mzingizi ...

... disavow all knowledge of the disappearances. 22. Secrecy is another important facet of disappearances. In the South African situation, a number of units within the police and military became secretly involved in disappearances and killings. These units enjoyed a large degree of autonomy and had ...

... referred to the Investigation Unit, and to provide cross-referencing and analysis which would serve as the basis for national feedback to regional units and the Research Department. Further, analysts had to explain how gross human rights violations occurred, who the perpetrators were and on what ...

■ DEVELOPING PROCESSES AND PHASES OF WORK 28 To begin with, the Unit was decentralised internally into a national unit and four regional units: one in each of the Commission’s four centres. Regional heads were responsible for the management of the regional units and reported to the national ...

Killings associated with SDUs 421 In its second submission to the Commission, the ANC said that weaponry was supplied to certain SDUs by selected units of the ordnance department of MK, through dead drops or by providing sketches to senior personnel, which were then passed on. These ordnance ...

... 91. Senior commanders were then sent to all the forward areas to raise these concerns with MK structures and, where possible, to meet with units. The command structures in the forward areas were told to contact all command structures in their units, whether or not they had been involved ...

... in about 1974 and, while a level of communication existed between activists in the Eastern Cape and the ANC in Lesotho, the infiltration of armed units from outside the country was restricted. People attempting to strengthen the link were quickly hunted down and suppressed by the security ...

... regionally, as did the type of records collected, with the exception of the human rights violation statements. Furthermore, various committees, units and departments within the Commission operated fairly independently. The lack of uniformity or set policy on classification and storage systems ...

... Ad hoc VIP protection was extended to the Revd Dr Mgojo, Ms Gcabashe and Dr Orr. 25 The SAPS, the National Protection Service, and the VIP Units performed these functions in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban. However, given the nature of the Commission’s mandate, these functions were also ...

... PAC were often the ‘faceless victims’ of assassination by the security forces, their identity frequently unknown by their killers or their own units. The Commission had the task of matching the names of those who disappeared against names submitted by amnesty applicants who knew only the ...

... by ‘Caprivi trainees’. 104 There were allegations of partiality and brutality in the KZP, which grew during this period from small guard units to a fully-fledged police force in control of policing a number of extremely volatile townships. Violations were also attributed to the ...

which the unit had come into existence, and according to which it would transmit all information it obtained about terrorist movements to the combat units of the security forces while the latter would carry out the pursuit operations, gave rise to problems in practice ... the unit in due course ...

... had been to kill several prominent MK and SACTU leaders based in Botswana who were allegedly in the process of setting up MK or Industrial Combat Units within the Post and Telegraphic Workers’ Association ( P O T WA), a trade union in South Africa. Special Forces called off the first attempt ...