TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 1

Subsection 9

The ‘COSAS Four’

81. Three COSAS members were killed and one was seriously injured in an entrapment operation organised by the West Rand Security Branch in Krugersdorp on 15 February 1982.³⁷ The operation entailed detonating explosives in a pump-house on an abandoned mine where an askari, whom the youths believed to be an MK operative, had promised to give them basic military training.

82. The applicants were, by majority decision, refused amnesty for this operation. The Committee felt that the decision to eliminate the group was not justifiable and that the applicants had failed to make use of other options available to them, such as arrest and arraignment, or preventive detention under the prevailing security legislation [AC/2001/198].

Operation Zero Zero

83. In June 1985, an entrapment operation^{3 8} was conducted in the East Rand townships of Duduza, Tsakane and Kwa-Thema by a joint team from Security Branch Headquarters. General Johan van der Merwe, then second-in-command of the Security Branch, sought and received approval for the operation fro m then Minister of Law and Order, Louis le Grange.

84. The group of youths was infiltrated by Constable Joe Mamasela, who masqueraded as an MK operative.³⁹ Mamasela showed the young men how to detonate a hand grenade and supplied them with grenades whose timing devices had been reduced to zero seconds. The person with whom Constable Mamasela had initially established contact, Congress Mtsweni, was given a zero-timed limpet mine to ensure that he did not survive to identify Mamasela. At midnight on the night of 25 June 1985, eight of the COSAS members were killed and seven w e re seriously injured as they attempted to throw the grenades at their chosen targets. Fifteen Security Branch operatives, including the head of the Security Branch and other senior personnel, applied for and were granted amnesty for the operation [AC/2001/058].

The ‘Guguletu Seven’

85. On 3 March 1986, seven operatives were killed in Guguletu, Cape Town, by a combined C1/Vlakplaas, Western Cape Security Branch and Riot Squad team. The group of youth activists had been infiltrated by C1/Vlakplaas operatives (working in conjunction with the Western Cape Security Branch), who provided them with weapons and training. Only one of the seven had apparently previously received military training from MK. The applicants presented conflicting evidence as to whether the intention had been to arrest or kill the activists. Two C1/Vlakplaas applicants were granted amnesty for this operation [AC/2001/276].

The ‘Nietverdiend Ten ’

86. On 26 June 1986, a joint operation by the Northern Transvaal Security Branch and SADF Special Forces led to the killing of ten youths from Mamelodi near Nietverdiend in the Western Transvaal .⁴⁰ The youths believed they were en route to Botswana for military training.

87. The applicants testified that this was one of several joint operations undertaken by Special Forces and the Northern Transvaal Security Branch. The role of the Security Branch was to identify the targets and that of Special Forces to carry out the operational aspects.

88. In this case, Constable Joe Mamasela, who had transferred to the Northern Transvaal Security Branch after his former C1/Vlakplaas commander Brigadier Cronje became divisional commander, was responsible for identifying the individuals. On the night of 26 June 1986, Mamasela drove ten young activists to the location in the Nietverdiend area.

89. The youths were ordered out of the minibus at gunpoint and injected with a chemical substance by Commandant Dave Trippet (deceased). Now unconscious, they were bundled back into the minibus and driven into Bophuthatswana by Special Forces operative Diederick Jacobus Vorster. A limpet mine and an AK47 were placed in the minibus, an accident was staged and the minibus was set alight.

90. The bodies were burnt so severely that identification was difficult, and there is some confusion about who was killed in this incident. These difficulties were compounded by the fact that the operation was followed by a second entrapment operation, also involving youths from Mamelodi, who became known as the ‘Kwandebele Nine’ (see below).

91. Mr Vorster testified that, following these operations, he had requested not to be deployed on such missions, both because of security concerns and because he did not believe that such operations were the proper function of a soldier. The applicants were granted amnesty.⁴¹