TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 2

Subsection 25

Types of violations

Group attacks

238. Many applications involved incidents in which groups of ANC supporters clashed with IFP supporters in skirmishes. These attacks took the form of pitched battles and formed part of a cycle of attacks and counter- attacks. Several incidents also involved attacks on individuals by large gro u p s .¹⁶¹ Such attacks sometimes led to fairly indiscriminate killings, often including the killing of women and children.

239. On 15 March 1992, a group of ANC members launched an attack on Ngcobo’s kraal at Nomhele reserve in the Maphumulo district, described by amnesty applicant Mkheyi Khanyile [AM0288/96] as a ‘counter-attack’. A 73-year- o l d woman, a 38-year-old woman and a two-year-old boy were killed in the attack. Amnesty was refused, as the testimony of a young male survivor contradicted the version presented by Khanyile [AC/1997/0045].

Assassinations

240. Most amnesty applications in the KwaZulu and Natal region related to assassinations carried out chiefly by SDU members.

241. Five SDU members in Umkomaas on the Natal south coast targeted and killed a prominent IFP leader, Mr Mkhize, on 7 November 1990, believing that he had led attacks on the ANC in the area. Mr Phelela Bhekizenzo Vitalis Hlongwa [AM3684/96], Mr Fani Simphiwe Mbutho [AM4164/96] and Mr Kwenzakwakhe N Msani [AM3473/96] , applied for and were granted amnesty for the attack, for which they had been convicted [AC/1998/0102]. At the Durban hearing on 24 November 1998, Mr Msani described the determination of their group to kill Mr Mkhize:

We have been trying for several times to kill Mkhize, but in vain. We have been shooting at him and actually throwing stones at him, but in vain. It was not that on that day we actually took a decision on that particular day, we have been t rying for several times to shoot at him. … We met at a place, at a hill, a sort of a hill place. We held a meeting there and strategised how to attack Mkhize and we knew that he had a gun and he had the official gun and then there and there we left to attack him … Myself, I shot him, he ran away. I initially explained that Palela Hlongwa and Mabuno actually shot as well, and I actually took the bush knife from Jogolo Cele and then I hit him because he was still moving by then. Then I struck him, using the knife and then I ran away because the police were by then approaching.

242. Suspected informers or ANC members believed to have defected to the IFP w e re also especially targeted for attack. Mr Thulasizwe Philemon Moses Cele [AM5498/97; AC/1998/0105] was granted amnesty for assaulting and stabbing Mr Zulu to death in Nokweja Location, Ixopo, on 15 July 1993. This was a voluntary application as Mr Cele had never been charged for the offence that he and two other SDU members committed.

Ambushes/attacks on vehicles

243. Some of the most indiscriminate attacks to take place were ambushes on vehicles. In one case, Mr Aaron Zibuse Zulu [AM2186/96] was one of a group of ANC supporters who opened fire on a bakkie^{1 6 2} in the Table Mountain area near Pietermaritzburg on 2 February 1993. The attackers believed that the vehicle was owned and driven by a local IFP warlord who had attacked ANC supporters. In fact, the bakkie was taking schoolchildren to school. Six children were killed and fifteen survived with serious injuries. Mr Zulu, who has never been charged for this incident, was refused amnesty [AC/2000/162].

244. Three members of an SDU applied for amnesty for an attack on a bus in the Umkomaas area on 27 April 1992. Mr Jabulani Doda Cele [AM3682/96], Mr Jabulani Tunene Ncokwane [AM3694/96] and Mr Isaac Mhlekhona Shange [AM3384/96] had been convicted of the attack. They were aged 18, 23 and 18 respectively and had only very recently joined the ANC.

245. They stopped the bus as it drove along a rural road and ordered women and children to get off. They then allowed passengers who were not from that are a to get off as well. They opened fire on the remaining passengers, killing six and injuring eight. Amnesty was granted [AC/2001/088].

MR WILLS: Did anybody order you to do this attack, or to perform this act? MR SHANGE: We decided as a group, no-one told us. We decided as a group, all of us, we agreed on one thing … The reason we attacked the bus was because we were trying to fight back to the people who forced us to leave our a rea, or our places. We wanted to stay there as ANC members, freely, and also we wanted to kick out Inkatha members because they were the reason why we w e re out of our places. We were born there and it was sad and difficult for us to leave our homes. We were forced and we were attacked. That’s why we saw it necessary for us to go back. (Hearing at Durban, 26 April 1997.)