self-protection units (SPUs)

Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) and the Congress of South African Students (COSAS). It was also at about this time that the ANC began to infiltrate units of trained guerrillas back into the Eastern Cape. Political trials began again, along with reports of abductions and killings. The Commission ...

... 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 ...

... OF FINDINGS Collusion between the right wing and the security forces 11. Amnesty applications confirm that in a number of incidents, covert units within the security structures assisted in arming right-wing groups. The amnesty application of Mr Leonard Veenendal8 0, a member of the Civil ...

... 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 ...

... in keeping scorecards of those it killed for bounty. These practices were confirmed by journalists who were allowed to travel with security force units, as well as by court testimonies by security force members. At the height of the war, in the early to mid-1980s, Koevoet alone claimed a kill ...

... British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha and permitted the redeployment of Koevoet and other military units into northern South West Africa/Namibia. 129 SWAPO denied the allegations of an incursion and claimed its guerrillas had crossed the border ...

... of CCB activities was, therefore, scratched. 378 Details have been given elsewhere in this chapter of the SADF’s development of specialised units. The earliest was formed in 1961. Later in the 1960s, reconnaissance commandos were established specialising in air, sea and land operations ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... source. State agent Craig Williamson told the hearing that a “special relationship” existed between the SABC and the intelligence community’s units for STRATCOM. The state, he said, was at a disadvantage because it did not own or control any credible print media. It counteracted this by its ...

... 1985-1989, one youth committed suicide and six others were hospitalised for nervous breakdowns because of their exile.25 The breakdown of family units and broken connections with extended families caused by the exodus affected the lives of many young people. Concluding remarks 117 Those who ...

... imposed on the Commission. Regrettably, identification of skilled investigators was not always possible, and as a consequence, regional units had to conduct individual training sessions for investigators and corroborative assistants to meet the standards required. 20 National and ...

... Violations Committee. Amnesty applicants investigations 56 Amnesty applications were co-ordinated from the national office in Cape Town with the units in the four regions. The co-ordinator liaised with and reported to the Amnesty Committee and channelled investigations to the appropriate ...

... 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 ...

... one aspect of the CCB’s modus operandi was the use of cash as an incentive to ‘produce’. Thus, like other hit-squad or counterinsurgency units such as Koevoet and C10, CCB members were provided with a positive inducement to undertake actions which could, and often did, result in a ...

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 ...

largely criminal acts, as well as applications from SDU members involved in criminal activity. Such activity was partly a way of arming SDUs or APLA units, but there is evidence to suggest that, in some areas, criminal elements took over or got involved in SDUs. It is also clear that some ...

... 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, ...