self-protection units (SPUs)

MR LAX: You spoke about in the hostel you were divided up into units when you said that the people in your unit were Zwele and - I can't remember who the other person was - Buthelezi?

MR BAKER: Mr Chairman, yes, Capt Botha was in charge of Intelligence Units, the MK Intelligence Unit. This operation was basically his, but the overall deployment of the greater team if I can call it as such, actually fell under Col Taylor. I had been there to find out about the deployment of ...

... raised in the evidence must be weighed against the following. It must be born in mind, according to Thwala, Simelane was in one of his units and apparently an important one at that, her being the leader of the Vaal One Cell, because that certainly is the impression that his evidence ...

... refusal to admit to the true facts and against the background of a series of incidents in the recent past, perpetrated by their unit and other units, it was not seriously entertained that they could be recruited.  The 4th and 7th Applicants decided that they had to be killed.  It was ...

... crime.  He was assigned to a unit which was primarily charged with tracing firearms.  They were also available as a support component to other units doing investigations.  During February 1992 he was approached by Holtzhausen to assist in an operation against robbers at the premises of ...

... instances where people would fight over girlfriends and turn the information around thereafter and therefore all the members of the self defence units had to be able to gather information if a person had evidence about a certain information, that was ...

MR WILLIAMSON: Well I don't know whether it wouldn't have included, Mr Chairman, because if one of the intelligence gathering units somewhere was doing his job and something happened in Swaziland or Lesotho or wherever it was and some ANC people were killed, and a source reported that being, even ...

MR LAMEY: Would it be correct to say that it would be unsafe to interview, to get information from informers at the Police Units, at Soweto Security Branch and so on?

CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS THABETHE: On paragraph 2 of your supplementary affidavit you talk about the material which was going to be used in home made weapons for Self Defence Units. How were you going to defend yourselves? Sorry, let me start here. Who was going to make these home made weapons?

"At all relevant times to date, since January 1 1974, I was a member of the Permanent Force and an officer involved with various units of the SANDF."

MR BLACK: You say that you've always supported the African National Congress and in 1986 you became an active member of the self-defence units at Secunda?

... these Street Committees were put on the alert and the matters were closely monitored. It is during this period that the residents of the aforesaid units bona fide believed that the "Killer Boys" were agents of the Security Forces. This belief was further reinforced by the fact that although the ...

MR SHAIK: No, I wouldn't say that it was part of the ANC policy, as per se. I would say that in that instance I perceived that the Self Defence Units given the situation that existed in townships at the time, were using those weapons to defend themselves against Inkatha led or Inkatha orientated ...

MR BERGER: Why is there not a mention in your statement at 210(H) to (I), not a word about the self defence units, why is that?

MR MBAMBO: Again in 1994, March 1994, I joined one of the Units under Mr Jimmy Jones as a Commander, that went on, there were fights and we were undertaking operations. I don't want to lie to you, I never enquired about this armed struggle as I heard it through the radio media and why the people ...

MR BAKER: No Mr Chairman, this was done by specialised units within the Security Branch.

MR MGXAJI: You agree with me that the men who were with Mr Mapipa in the van, were not APLA members, nor Third Force Units as Mzwandile advised you, do you agree with me that those people had no reason to be shot at by you? There was no political reason to be shot at by you? What do you say to ...

"We were regarded as Self Defence Units."

"Many of the established MK units had been allowed a degree of initiative in executing their operations as long as they remained within the policy guidelines."

MR BELLINGAN: If I understand the Chairperson correctly, other Units were used for their own operations?