TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 5

Subsection 58

Crossroads under Nongwe: 1990–1993

392 Despite his new ANC allegiance, Nongwe displayed the same autocratic practices as Ngxobongwana. He was used by the CPA to persuade residents of Section 1 in Old Crossroads to move to lower Crossroads so that development of the area could begin. Nongwe allegedly promised residents that they would return to brick houses in three months. Some residents moved voluntarily but others were ‘forced’ out by arson attacks and violence allegedly perpetrated by kitskonstabels and Nongwe’s ‘cabinet’.

393 From October 1990, occupants and homes in the new Unathi section were attacked, burnt and looted. It soon became apparent that the ‘headman’ style of political control had been transplanted into the ANC. The youth in Old Crossroads started to campaign against the ‘headman’ system and against the corruption of Nongwe and his administration. In March 1991, a separate ANC branch was launched in Unathi and Depoutch ‘Whitey’ Elese elected as chairperson. Elese was a young MK-trained returnee activist. Both Nongwe and the SAP were aware of his MK training and background and, over the next few years, the Elese home was continually raided by different units of the SAP.

394 Approximately 108 houses in the Unathi development were destroyed and tens of people were killed in the 1991 conflict.⁶⁰ Mr Boysie Ntsethe [CT0152] was shot and the Ntsethe home destroyed. On 13 August 1991, police shot Mr Xolile Danster [CT00251] in the head in Unathi, Crossroads. Bidekile Sogqiba [CT01323] was also shot and killed.

395 In an attempt to resolve the conflict, the ANC established a Peace Commission in August 1991, which was partially successful. Subsequent meetings were arranged, attempting to draw the divided community together. The mutual focus of discontent began to fall on the Crossroads council and its administration. This came to a head with the killing of an ANC activist Buntubake Ndemane, on the 13 May 1992, as he was leaving a community meeting where residents were voicing their complaints against the council and its councillors. The accused were subsequently acquitted in the High Court by a judge who strongly criticised the SAP investigation. LRC investigations helped identify the perpetrator as a council employee and secured a substantial financial out-of-court settlement for the family.

396 The upgrading process and the accompanying (sometimes forced) relocation of residents to temporary accommodation with no guarantee of housing in the future continued to cause conflict. This was exacerbated in 1992 by new financial demands for rent and contributions to the ‘Crossroads Fund’ . Even headmen opposed Nongwe on this, and one, Mr Amos Sakhele Nyhakatyha, defected to Boys Town.

397 A wave of conflict broke out from April to August 1993. Seven or eight members of Nongwe’s ‘cabinet’/’Big Eight’ bodyguard were identified as the perpetrators of a major arson attack which took place on 15 April 1993. SAP and SADF members were said to be present but did nothing to stop it. Another large burning occurred on 29 May, destroying approximately sixty shacks. Press statements suggested that, after this, residents chose to move rather than continue to resist removals.

398 At least fifty-five people were killed and nearly 100 injured between March and July 1993. In one of the first killings, activist Ms Joyce Ndinise-Elese, Mr Timothy Soga and Ms Sicelo Pauli [CT00939] were shot dead in an attack on their home on 19 March 1993, which also injured Mr Tinie Elese and Mr Ayanda Ndinise. The intended target of the attack was Unathi ANC leader Mr Depoutch Elese. Mr Mandla Maduna [AM5938/97], one of Nongwe’s assistants, was later convicted of the murder and has applied to the Commission for amnesty, claiming to have been acting on behalf of APLA/PAC.

399 Women and youth were frequently the victims of random attacks which destroyed hundreds of homes and caused many injuries. Fourteen-year-old Siyabulela Khobo was abducted on 22 May 1993 by a member of the Big Eight whom he identified as ‘Small’ (Victor Sam) and taken to Nongwe’s base in Section 4 where he was beaten and told to give certain information to the police. Internal Stability Unit (ISU) police arrived and questioned Khobo, and a senior ISU member threatened his life. After the ISU left, Khobo was beaten and kicked again. At a subsequent court case brought against Nongwe, Victor Sam, Loleka and Booi, Khobo had to give his evidence in open court facing the accused. The magistrate in charge acquitted the accused, saying that Nongwe was within his rights in making a citizen’s arrest.

400 By the end of the conflict, Section 3 was totally, and Section 2 substantially, destroyed. Section 4, Nongwe’s home/power-base, remained intact, despite instances of sporadic reciprocal violence. Nongwe was finally limited to Section 4, where he was soon joined by other ‘refugee’ squatter leaders being ejected from other informal settlements, including Christopher Toise and Jerry Tutu. Section 4 had long served as the ‘military base’ of WEBTA and its leadership core, the Big Eight, including Victor Sam. There are suggestions of a quid pro quo relationship in terms of which Nongwe and Sam provided each other with refuge and troops for their respective battles.

401 The 1993 Goldstone Commission of Inquiry into Public Violence and Intimidation at Crossroads in the Greater Cape Town Area was charged with examining the conflicts. Their findings identified a range of historical and social causes and criticised the role of the CPA and the police. The ANC, which suspended Nongwe’s ANC membership only on 17 August 1993, was criticised for its tardiness in doing do. Complaints about Nongwe’s actions were being brought to their attention from as early as 1991.

402 After the Goldstone Commission hearings, from August 1993 to early 1994, there was a period of relative calm with only occasional incidents of violence. Amos Nyhakatyha was attacked in February 1994, forcing him to move to Khayelitsha where he was later murdered. At the time he was said to be meeting and Nongwe with others from Boys Town in an attempt to broker peace in the area. At the time of reporting, many of the key players in the conflicts appear to have remained active in recurring bouts of violence.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT LOCAL POWER STRUGGLES BETWEEN HISTORICAL RIVALS AND POLITICAL OPPONENTS DATING BACK TO THE LATE 1970S WERE EXACERBATED BY THE DEVELOPMENT AND UPGRADING PROJECTS EMBARKED UPON IN THE 1990S. THESE PIECEMEAL DEVELOPMENTS INCREASED THE POWER OF PATRONAGE OF LOCAL LEADERS AND HEIGHTENED THE INSECURITY OF RESIDENTS. IN THE CASE OF CROSSROADS, THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT FIRST JOHNSON NGXOBONGWANA AND THEN JEFFREY NONGWE WERE KEY PLAYERS IN THE UNFOLDING OF THE CONFLICTS.