Special Hearings — Caprivi Hearings — 1997-08-11

MR MACADAM: 2A And was it that you then filled in an application form, went through the normal training at the police college and once you had completed that training you were then attested as a member of the Force?

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR MACADAM: And where were you posted after you completed your training?

WITNESS:   In Esikhaweni.

MR MACADAM: And in what branch of the Police Force did you perform your duties?

INTERPRETER: Can he please repeat the answer?

MR MACADAM: In what branch of the Police Force in Esikhaweni were you placed in?

WITNESS:   Crime Prevention Unit.

MR MACADAM: Was that a uniform branch component of the police or a detective branch?

WITNESS:   Uniform branch.

MR MACADAM: And in 1992, were you still stationed at that police station and attached to that sub-unit?

WITNESS:   That is true.

MR MACADAM: And Brian Gcina Mkhize gave evidence this morning.  Was he also a member of the KwaZulu Police at Esikhaweni during this period?

WITNESS:   That is true.

MR MACADAM: In 1992, did you have any specific dealings with him over and above your ordinary duties as a member of the Police Force?

WITNESS:   You mean other duties outside police duties?  What do you mean?

MR MACADAM: Yes.

WITNESS:   That is true.

MR MACADAM: Can you explain to us briefly what that entailed?

WITNESS:   I was a member of the hit squad.  Then Mkhize came to me where I was living at home where I was living and we were already used to each other then and he introduced - and he told me what he was there for, that he was one of

MR MACADAM: /those

MR MACADAM: 2A those who had trained in Caprivi and he asked me if I knew about those and I told him yes, I have some knowledge and he therefore told me that he has been sent by the leaders to recruit the members with whom he will work to fight the ANC and I asked him what type of work he was referring to or talking about and he therefore told me that they were trained in Caprivi so they may fight the ANC or be able to fight ANC.  Now that I was an IFP member from a long time ago, around the 1980s, I had no problems or objections to that.  I only asked him which terms could he give me in case I decide to join him.  Can he ascertain that and he therefore promised me that he will facilitate a meeting with the IFP leaders or high profile members, then he would introduce me to them, so I may be welcomed by them and thereafter they will outline my duties to me.  On that day he took me to Mrs Mbuyazi's home and Mrs Mbuyazi was a councillor at G2(?) and also he(?) was a leader, IFP leader in that area.  He introduced me to Mrs Mbuyazi and told her that he had already explained everything to me and I was also showing interest in joining the force, hit squad and Mrs Mbuyazi expressed her joy and also told me that I should not even worry about anything, she will call the leaders in Ulundi and facilitate a meeting where I will be introduced now to those superiors.  After that we were just chatting now generally about the conflict between the IFP and ANC.  It was only one weekend after that weekend or after one week, Gcina told me that I will have to attend a meeting in Ulundi where he will introduce me to others.  Indeed we went to Ulundi.  We went to Captain Langeni's office, which was situated in KwaZulu Parliament, right in Ulundi and that's where I met

MR MACADAM: /Daluxolo

MR MACADAM: 2A Daluxolo Luthuli, Captain Langeni, who is now major and M Z Khumalo as well.  He introduced me to them and further on went to tell them that he has already explained the need for my services, so a group will be created to fight the ANC in the area.  I was warmly welcomed and ...[break in recording]

MR MACADAM: (END OF CASSETTE NO 2A)

MR MACADAM: 2B (START OF CASSETTE NO 2B)

MR MACADAM: ---   ... he further told me the type of work and what it entailed.  They told me that there was a great need that we should fight at all costs the ANC and told me about Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi as well, that he was not happy about the fact that he was losing his members, because they were being killed by the ANC and he said the time had come where we had to face the ANC head-on and fight it.  And they also explained to me that if we leave ANC alone and do nothing about it and continue to do its work, killing the IFP and not implementing any force to fight it, that will mean we are leaving the whole country in the communists' hands and in that way we will be letting the enemy and poverty and we will tend to be like other African countries like Angola, Mozambique and Uganda and they further explained to me that they won't allow - oh, I'm sorry, they were saying they won't allow the Zulu nation to be headed by the communists.  And they explained further how we would work or how we would cope and also explained that the Esikhaweni area and surrounding areas had ANC members who were the ones behind the killing of the IFP members.  It will be appropriate for us to receive orders to kill such members and we should see that they are killed.  And it was explained to me that I should not

MR MACADAM: /have

MR MACADAM: 2B have any fear whatsoever, because what we would be carrying or doing, it's not out of our volition and we are not doing it for our own gain as IFP members, but we are doing it for the Zulu nation at large and the entire South African Government and they promised me that I should not fear that I will be arrested at some stage, because they have strong support behind him, being supported by the South African Government and that they will do and take whatever it costs to help us in case we will be arrested and they made a an example by Jerry Mdanda, that he was also arrested at some stage, but he was released and they made efforts that he was released and many others and they also told us that we will be working hand in hand with the Inkatha leaders in the Esikhaweni and the surrounding areas, to be able to identify the ANC members, those we had to kill, the targets and they explicitly emphasised to me that all what we will be doing, we shall not put them in paper or write or in diaries or in any papers we should not write anything.  We should use our memories to capture every reports and they said in case we will be given pictures of photos of the people we did not know, we should with immediate effect, after the operation, destroy such pictures or evidence.  And they told us that their ammunition were in place and they also told us that we won't be using often the weapons from the police, but we will be given AK47 weapons like that and some others which were used by ANC in their activities.  That would help us so that they could not easily tell who carried the operation, either IFP or anything and they also told us - gave us the codenames that we will be using to refer to the equipment that we'd used.  I remember Madlanduna and

MR MACADAM: /M Z Khumalo

MR MACADAM: 2B M Z Khumalo explaining to me that we should not use the names of the weapons, as they were, but use codenames instead and they also told me that if we talk about equipment, the entire equipment, we should refer to it as farming equipment and they told us that if they were referring to hand grenades, they would talk about - they will refer to the hand grenades as "block of soil" and they explained to us that the small guns, firearms, will be referred to as - or they will refer to the small firearms as something that's hidden and they also explained to me that we won't be using the name of "killing", but instead we will refer to killing as the "first bus" and also told me that the chief will be discover and - or to realise that there's a member like me who will be working with the IFP.  That was what was discussed in that meeting, the core of the meeting and some other things I've forgotten.