Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1998-04-06

THEMBELANI TANDEKILE XUNDU: Yes, I can confirm what is in paragraph 27 because paragraph 27 puts into context the whole action carried out by ...[indistinct] detachment on the 28th of November 1992.   It just puts it clear that this was part of the national liberation struggle as seen by the PAC.
	And it further puts it clear that, if I may take  you back to certain historical factors, that peaceful means to wage a struggle have been exhausted by the African people for three centuries, the 17th, the 18th and the 19th century.  
	And after the 19th century, the African people were totally disarmed.  And if we remember, the last war of resistance must have 1912, and that in 1912 the oppressors continued to use violence against the African people who were using peaceful means to protest against the political system.  That is evidenced by the 1912 march by the women which was crushed violently by the security forces who were on horseback.
	The mowing down of innocent Christians were led by Enock Nkijema in Queenstown.  The brutal crushing of the strike of the mineworkers in 1946.  It served to reason Mr Chairman, that violence against peaceful protest, African people was the standard practice of the security system.  And that violence against African people  undoubtedly had legacy.
	But it was to intolerable levels in 1960 when our, 69 people were killed by the security forces.  It is worth mentioning that in the formation of the PAC in 1959, no provision by its leaders like Mangusuto Buthelezi was made for an armed revolution, it was never an option that our people could think of right from the beginning despite the facts that they have been killed from time to time, 1912, 1922 and you name the African wars of resistance.  
	Those, Sobukwe indicated that the political situation in our country was pregnant with untold possibilities but this possibility of ...[indistinct] an armed revolution was not in the line at the time.  Now the killing of our people or the time when our people were killed, I mean, it means the clouds of war were looming the horizon.  
	In 1961 APLA was formed and APLA, you must understand that it was formed out of these objective conditions, out of a sheer demand for revolutionary violence against settler colonialists.  And for those people who always chose to beat the mountains out of the words settlers.  
	I refer to them as settlers because if we can visit history, history tells that some people outside the continent of Africa came here to colonialise our country but the colonialisation of our people, particularly in the occupied Azania, had a unique character from the rest of the African people.  It was not the same one which happened in Kenya, it was not the same one which happened Guinea ...[indistinct].  
	The colonialists colonised Azania and then settled here, hence they are called settler colonialists or settlers.  So the words derived from history itself.  But the PAC have further chosen to give it a ...[indistinct] definition and said: even all those who worked for the perpetual existence of that evil system. 
	And it is also worth mentioning that the white people in this country are very proud of being settlers and I think nobody, not even a professor can nullify that fact because the erection of the settlers monument which is still called settlers monuments in Grahamstown, is indicative of the way that they are attached, or they attach importance to them being settlers.
	And furthermore, the task of directing the armed action against the settlers was given to the revolutionary council in 1961 by the presidential council of the PAC.  That on its own is indicative of the nature of the violence that we had to direct to the white people, it was revolutionary violence.
	Now the golf club incident is no exception from that revolutionary violence.  And I want to put it to you Mr Chairman, that they members of Ekude detachment moved from those premises and that mandate given by the PAC.  	And it is also worth mentioning lastly that in 1992 the PAC congress resolved to intensify the armed struggle and subsequently the commanders of the Azanian People's Liberation Army launched a campaign, Operation Great Storm.  And Operation Throw Stones, as the operation of the golf club was named, was an integral part of Operation Great Storm.
	So we had the full mandate that was given to us by the PAC, given to us by the APLA command structures.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Now the last part, paragraph 28 ...[intervention]

ADV SANDI: I'm sorry Mr Mbandazayo, can I ask to interpose here for a moment?
	Mr Xundu, I notice that in paragraph 27 you say:
"In 1992 the PAC was not taking part in the constitutional negotiations that were taking place in the country because you had no confidence in that process"
Would you be able to elaborate a little on that?

THEMBELANI TANDEKILE XUNDU: Okay, no problem.  In paragraph 27 I've indicated that
"The operation was carried out in light of the negotiations which were happening between our sister organisation, the ANC and the apartheid colonial government"
	But I've also mentioned that in the same breath it must be appreciated that the PAC was not part and parcel of the negotiations and not just out of the negotiations, was consciously not part of the negotiations for political reasons.  ...[indistinct]  reservations about a negotiated settlement.  I also as an individual had reservations a negotiated settlement.
	The mere fact that we have more than 300 cadres of ...[indistinct] still languishing in jail for actions they committed or for their contribution in bringing about this product, this democratic dispensation and at a time when we have a democratic government in power, voted in power by the majority of the people.   I cannot reconcile that, I'm really failing to reconcile.  
	And the mere fact that I myself Thembelani Xundu, I'm here in front of you gentlemen to ridicule myself, say that I've done that and to ask why I've done that, why?  I mean I would expect myself, in the shortest or the longest political imagination that I've had, that by now I'll be in front of the information department of the PAC or the information department or the intelligence department of the Azanian People's Liberation Army, perhaps let me say Colonel Mzamba, relating the experiences of the revolution.  
	Or even in front of historians, relating the experiences of the revolution and the contribution that, as a force, as a soldier or as cadre of APLA, I have done, in a relaxing situation, not in this situation.  This is certainly not a mechanism that I've ever foreseen in my thinking.  It clearly vindicates the suspicion that the PAC had over a negotiated settlement  because I'm asking myself, what is it that is blackmailing the Government so that they cannot release our cadres.
	What concession have they made to say: we'll keep them in jail but you must do this for us?  What is it?  You see, de Klerk being a product of the oppressive system, took a bold step to really spoil our prisoners.  In the light of that I cannot understand why our government cannot have the courage to release their comrades, not just people, their comrades.
	The liberation movements, the broad liberation movements was composed of the PAC, the ANC, Azapo, but our government cannot be courageous and strong and bold enough to take the cadres of the PAC out of jail.  Now it seems successfully our ...[indistinct] have been criminalised and that is why today, I mean, somebody has the audacity to ask me: why did I do that.