TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 3

Subsection 63

Civilian right wing

439 Overt right-wing violence first emerged in KwaZulu and Natal during the 1990s. An informal alliance between the right wing and the IFP emerged after the formation of the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG) in 1993 and was reflected in weapons smuggling and paramilitary training (mostly on white farms and KwaZulu nature reserves). There were a few cases where IFP members and right-wingers took part in joint attacks. The most notable of these was the bombing of the Seychelles restaurant in Port Shepstone. Mr Christo Brand [AM6422/97], Mr Morton Christie [AM6610/97], Mr Harry Jardine [AM6178/97], Mr Patrick Pedlar, Mr Roy Lane and Mr Andrew Howell [AM5961/97] all applied for amnesty in respect of the bombing of the Seychelles restaurant in February 1994 and of the attack on the Flagstaff police station in the Transkei, also in February 1994. Prominent South Coast IFP leader James Zulu ( [AM5864/97], now deceased) was involved in both of these attacks for which he too applied for amnesty. The applicants also revealed that they had conspired to bomb the Port Shepstone offices of both the NP and the ANC, but had abandoned these plans because of the commotion caused by the bombing of the Seychelles restaurant.

440 Mr James Zulu was a major focal point for the investigation of political violence in the lower South Coast region. The Commission found that he had close links with the local and regional SAP as well as with senior members of the white right wing, and that he used these links to his full advantage in his campaign to extend his own power base and to rid the area under his control of anti-IFP elements. His extremely aggressive and abrasive public personality contributed substantially to instability and violence in the greater Port Shepstone region.

441 Three AWB members from Richards Bay applied for amnesty for the 9 October 1990 attack on a Putco bus in Duffs Road near KwaMashu and Inanda. Two people were killed and dozens of others injured. The applicants claimed that the attack was in revenge for an alleged Pan African Students Organisation (PASO) attack on the Durban beachfront in which one person was killed. (Eugene Marais [AM0054/96]; David Botha [AM0057/96]; Adriaan Smuts [AM0056/96; KZN/SC/001–012])

442 IFP member Allan Nolte [AM2501/96] applied for amnesty for adding cyanide to the water system in Umlazi. He named six other right-wingers whom he alleges to have been party to the poisoning.

Resistance and revolutionary groupings

PAC/APLA

443 Three cases of PAC/APLA violence were referred to the Commission.

444 APLA member Nboba Mgengo [AM6386/97] applied for amnesty in respect of the bomb explosion on a bus in central Durban on 30 November 1993.

445 On 16 January 1994, the PAC announced that it had suspended the armed struggle that had been conducted by its armed wing, APLA, for the past thirty years. On 17 January 1994, three men were killed in a shoot-out with policemen in Pine Street in central Durban. Two of the deceased were allegedly attackers; the other may have been a bystander. The police alleged that the SAP satellite office at the Pine Street parking garage was attacked on that day by APLA members armed with AK-47s, 9mm pistols and a grenade. The SAP had allegedly received prior warning of the operation and had therefore deployed a number of policemen ready to counter the attack. One of those killed in the ensuing shoot-out was Mr Mosheen Jeenah [KZN/NN/400/DN], a student at ML Sultan Technikon and an alleged APLA member. The PAC denied involvement in the incident.

446 Evidence led at the inquest alleged irregularities in the initial investigation carried out by Warrant Officer Van Biljon and state pathologist, Dr Book. Two policemen who had been present during the shooting claimed they were fired on first and only then did they return fire. However, no AK-47 or handgun bullets (alleged to have been fired by the deceased) were found in the Pine Street satellite office. Further, the weapons used by the police who fired on the deceased were not sent for ballistic testing.

447 One APLA and two PAC members applied for amnesty in respect of the attack on the Crazy Beat Disco Club in Newcastle on Valentine’s Day 1994. Ms Gerbrecht van Wyk was shot dead and several others injured during the attack. The applicants, Mr Bongani Golden Malevu [AM0293/96], Mr Andile Shiceka [AM5939/97] and Mr Walter Falibango Thanda [AM5784/97], alleged that they had been sent by their commanders in the Transkei to Newcastle to ‘identify areas where whites gather’. They said they targeted the disco because it was frequented by white patrons. All three were serving prison terms for their involvement in the attack. Thanda and Shiceka were both involved in several APLA attacks in the Cape Town area for which they also applied for amnesty.