TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 3

Subsection 2

Caprivi trainees

13. The Amnesty Committee received applications from eleven IFP members known informally as the ‘Caprivi trainees’ (individuals who had received paramilitary training by the SADF in the Caprivi Strip during 1986) or from individuals who later joined the ‘Caprivi trainees’ at different levels of the structure and were deployed in areas around KwaZulu/Natal. Some former Caprivi trainees, after consultation with one another, approached the Amnesty Committee as a group .

14. Mr Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli [AM4075/96], the political commissar and operational commander of the Caprivi unit, testified before the Commission that the Caprivi unit was a covert offensive paramilitary unit within the IFP. He testified that its members were trained by senior commanders of the SADF and deployed against the political enemies of the State, namely the United Democratic F ront (UDF), the ANC and its allies. The Caprivi trainees were initially paid salaries by the SADF and were later incorporated into the KwaZulu Police, then headed by Dr Buthelezi as Minister of Police. The Amnesty Committee granted all these applicants amnesty, with one exception involving an incident of rape.

The South African Police

15. Two members of the SAP Riot Unit, two members of the SAP and two Special Constables (see below) deployed by the SAP Riot Unit in the Pietermaritzburg and KwaMashu area applied for amnesty for targeted killings. They claimed the killings were at least in line with police policy to support the IFP if not directly authorised by their superior officers in the police. The Riot Unit, the police members and one Special Constable were not categorised as IFP applicants and were later denied amnesty as they were found to have no political motive. However, three of the Special Constables were granted amnesty for their offences .

‘Amasinyora’ gang

16. One IFP member applied for amnesty for the killing of an ANC member in KwaMashu. He linked the activities of the IFP in this area to the notorious ‘AmaSinyora’ gang, which had been implicated in a reign of terror during the mid-to late 1980s.

IFP self-protection units

17. Six self-protection unit (SPU) members, who had been trained by the IFP at such informal and formal training facilities as the Mlaba or Amatikhulu camps, applied for amnesty. This number excludes the Caprivi trainees and their operatives who either provided training or attended these camps (together with former members of the SAP’s Vlakplaas Unit).

IFP officials

18. The Amnesty Committee received eleven applications from political officials of the IFP. The majority of these were received from IFP Youth Brigade leaders or organisers. Three bodyguards of senior IFP leaders applied for amnesty, claiming they had acted under the instructions of their leaders. A further two applicants w e re leaders of the a m abut h o (the IFP local military wing).

19. The highest-ranking IFP political official to apply for amnesty was Mr James Mkhazwa Zulu [AM5864/97], regional leader of the lower South Coast. Mr Zulu applied for amnesty in conjunction with four right-wing applicants and another IFP member after all six had been charged with an attack at the Flagstaff police station to obtain weapons.^{1 7 2} H o w ever, Mr Zulu was shot and killed at a taxi rank in Port Shepstone before his amnesty hearing. Several victims testified before the Commission that Zulu had been implicated in a number of assassinations in the lower South Coast area after his family had been killed in political violence. Mr Zulu did not, however, apply for amnesty for any incidents other than the Flagstaff attack.

IFP ordinary members

20. The Committee received seventy applications from ordinary IFP members for human rights violations committed in areas all over KwaZulu/Natal.