self-protection units (SPUs)

the negotiation process and/or to undermine the ANC’s efforts to consolidate its political presence. These attacks were believed to involve covert units of the security forces acting in concert with individuals or groupings, such as the IFP and certain right-wing paramilitary organisations. 4. ...

■ STRUCTURES IN THE INVESTIGATION UNIT Regional units 71 Because the Commission required only a relatively low level of corroboration of the violations alleged in the statements before it, the Investigation Unit structured the regional units in a way that would ensure that they had the ...

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 ...

... on the SADF headquarters base at Katimo Mulilo in the eastern Caprivi in which ten servicemen were killed. The SADF responded by sending combat units 250 kilometres inside Zambia to attack SWAPO camps. 160 During the SADF’s Operations Saffran and Rekstok in 1979, SWAPO bases in Western ...

Self-defence units (SDUs) 365 Substantial evidence placed before the Commission points to the fact that Mr Sifiso Nkabinde, the person responsible for the establishment of one of the largest self-defence units in the country, was recruited by the SAP Security Branch in 1988 as a registered ...

... 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 ...

■ 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 ...

... former sabotage squad member, Major Theunis ‘Rooi Rus’ Swanepoel. The role of the camp was to monitor SWAPO activity. Sixteen months later, SAP units were deployed to the area in response to SWAPO’s decision to move its trained cadres into South West Africa. On 26 August 1966, SAP forces ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... Some young people turned their attention to the defence of their communities6, redirecting their energies into the formation of self-defence units that were, in their view, justified by vigilante attacks. 34 Vigilantism was characterised by sudden attacks by an enemy who was frequently a ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

... while trying to put out the fire. Isaac Mqayana was killed at his mother’s funeral a few days later [KZN/JRW/104/BL]. ANC self-defence units 183 ANC SDUs emerged in various townships around the Orange Free State in the early 1990s. The Commission heard that, while these units were ...

... we lived at the time was that we had no alternative … The instruction that I gave was that he [MH Gushu] should form and arm the self-defence units. It was therefore up to him to take the necessary steps as to how the self-defence units should be armed and that’s what decision he took: ...

... 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 ...

... was the overthrow of the apartheid regime. To that end, the PAC recruited young men into self-defence or, as the PAC termed them, ‘task force’ units. 298. APLA’s first task was to wage an armed struggle against the security forces. While APLA’s strategy in the 1980s had been to target ...

... THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT, IN RESPECT OF PUBLIC ORDER POLICING, THE SAP, SPECIFICALLY ITS CROWD-CONTROL DIVISIONS (THE RIOT AND INTERNAL STABILITY UNITS), DISPLAYED A GROSS DISREGARD FOR THE LIVES AND/OR PHYSICAL WELL-BEING OF BOTH THOSE ENGAGED IN POLITICAL ACTIVITY AS WELL AS THE GENERAL ...

... 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 ...