TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 3

Subsection 53

The Killing of Thula Nhlabathi and Baloni Msimango

On 31 October 1992, a group of IFP supporters attacked mourners attending the funeral of a prominent ANC member. Two mourners, Mr Thula Alson Nhlabathi and Mr Baloni Richard Msimango, were shot and stabbed to death and a number of houses were set alight and looted [KZN/ZJ/369/LS; KZN/ZJ/366/LS]. The docket was closed as ‘undetected’ on 15 November 1993.

344 On 9 July 1993, after weeks of mounting tension, IFP supporters attacked E Section before dawn, killing ten ANC supporters, injuring at least eleven others and burning houses. The attack lasted a few hours and bodies were found over a two-kilometre radius. The raid appeared to be in revenge for the attacks on IFP commuters passing through E Section.

345 The incidence of violence increased in the months following the massacre. Scores of houses were burnt down and hundreds of residents forced to flee. The Ndakane High School, situated between C1 (IFP) and C2 (ANC) Sections, was temporarily closed because of conflict between staff and students coming from different sections of the township.

346 As with other areas in the Natal Midlands, the political conflict in the Richmond area flared up in the latter half of the 1980s and was largely characterised by conflict between ANC and IFP supporters, although there was a strong element of faction fighting. The communities worst affected were Patheni, the IFP stronghold led by local IFP leader Mbadlaza Paulos Vezi, and Magoda and Ndaleni, ANC strongholds led by Mr Sifiso Nkabinde. The conflict was alleged to have been further fuelled by a ‘third force’, said to include local right-wing farmers and certain members of the Richmond SAP. This ‘third force’ not only fuelled the conflict between the two parties but split the organisations internally, pitting former allies against each another.

347 The IFP–ANC conflict escalated in 1990, erupting into full-scale violence in January 1991. The fighting culminated in the so-called ‘Battle of the Forest’ on 29 March 1991, in which twenty-three IFP supporters, including women and children, were killed and the ANC regained control of the major portion of Ndaleni area. A number of prominent IFP leaders in the area were attacked and/or killed: Mr Ndodi Thusi, IFP leader of Ndaleni and family members were killed; Chief Dingiziwe Ndlovu, KwaZulu Legislature member was killed in Ixopo and Chief Majozi (IFP leader) was attacked several times. On 21–23 June 1991, groups of heavily armed IFP supporters attacked ANC supporters in Ndaleni, Magoda and Townlands.

348 The Commission received more than ten accounts of the incident. Fourteen people were killed and nine others injured in attacks on seven homesteads in Ndaleni.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT TWENTY-THREE PEOPLE, INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WERE KILLED BETWEEN 21 AND 23 JUNE 1991 IN THE RICHMOND AREA BY UNKNOWN SUPPORTERS OF THE IFP, CONSTITUTING GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS. TWO IFP MEMBERS, MR MDUDUZI PITSHANA GUMBI AND MR ROBERT ‘VO’ ZUMA [AM0433/96] WERE GRANTED AMNESTY FOR THEIR ROLES IN THE ATTACK ON 23 JUNE 1991.

349 A Richmond IFP member who took part in these June attacks told the Commission that he and five other IFP supporters had been hand-picked by local IFP chief Mzwandile Majozi in May 1991, and sent to undergo paramilitary training at the Amatikulu camp in KwaZulu. The training lasted one week and was given by IFP member Mr Phillip Powell. On completion of their training, Mr MR Mzimela, the Secretary of the KLA, issued them with G-3 rifles from the Chief Minister’s Department. Three weeks after their return from Amatikulu they launched the attack on Ndaleni. The same IFP member also alleged that policemen from the local Richmond SAP station supplied them with ammunition.

350 In addition to the many lives that were lost, an estimated 20 000 people were displaced during 1991 in the so-called Richmond war.

351 Although the Richmond violence was portrayed as solely ANC–IFP conflict, the amnesty applications of a former SAP member exposed the security forces’ role in fomenting the violence. Former Riot Unit constable Nelson Shabangu [AM3676/96] exposed the police collusion with IFP elements in Richmond. He also accused the police of ignoring cases implicating IFP officials and thus allowing them to take the law into their own hands.

352 Also in 1991, AWB slogans started appearing in Richmond and the first rumours emerged of AWB training taking place on local farms.

353 On 26 March 1992, nine IFP supporters were killed, several others injured and many homes burnt down in an attack on the Gengeshe community. Two ANC supporters, Mr Mandlenkosi Tommy Phoswa [AM3641/96] and Mr Mafuka Anthony Nzimande [AM3095/96], were granted amnesty in respect of the attack. Both were serving fourteen year prison terms for the attack.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT NINE SUPPORTERS OF THE IFP WERE KILLED ON 26 MARCH 1992 BY SUPPORTERS OF THE ANC, CONSTITUTING GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS. ANC SUPPORTERS MANDLENKOSI TOMMY PHOSWA AND MAFUKA ANTHONY NZIMANDE WERE GRANTED AMNESTY IN RESPECT OF THEIR ROLES IN THE ATTACK.

354 The Commission heard stories from several survivors of massacres in the Richmond area and from other ‘flashpoints’ around the province.

355 In Umlazi, fifteen women and three children were killed and twenty-eight other people injured in an attack on the ANC-supporting Uganda informal settlement on 13 March 1992. Two of the children were still toddlers; one was decapitated. The attackers included a large number of KZP members and IFP supporters from the Unit 17 hostel complex in T Section, Umlazi.

356 Residents reported that a large contingent of KZP members was seen escorting hundreds of Inkatha supporters to the pre-dawn attack. The attackers withdrew after the SAP arrived on the scene. This was the third such attack in two months by hostel-dwellers and the KZP in U-section, Umlazi, though the casualties in the previous incidents had not been as high.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT EIGHTEEN PEOPLE, INCLUDING FIFTEEN WOMEN AND THREE CHILDREN, WERE KILLED AT UGANDA INFORMAL SETTLEMENT, UMLAZI, ON 13 MARCH 1992 WHEN A LARGE NUMBER OF KZP MEMBERS AND IFP SUPPORTERS FROM THE UNIT 17 HOSTEL COMPLEX IN T SECTION STAGED A PRE-DAWN ATTACK ON THE INFORMAL SETTLEMENT. THE KILLINGS CONSTITUTE GROSS VIOLATIONS FOR WHICH UNKNOWN KZP MEMBERS AND UNKNOWN IFP SUPPORTERS ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.