/ 12 June 2012

Blame it on the hostels, flashpoints for too long

It took a massacre and a national political crisis to persuade Iscor to close its kwaMadala Hostel in Vanderbijlpark. But this week’s announcement came too late for at least 60 people killed in two years of violence linked to its inmates. The Boipatong massacre has turned a spotlight on the Inkatha fortresses which many Reef hostels have become. Most of the violence on the Reef – now the country’s storm centre – flows from a dozen hostels, either in the form of random terror directed against township residents or retaliatory attacks.

The Weekly Mail has focused on seven of the most notorious hostels, listing some of the attacks linked to them by monitoring organisations between January 1991 and May 1992. A total of 273 deaths resulted from these attacks – others may have died in unrecorded incidents.

kwaMadala

This hostel was disused until fugitives from the main Iscor hostel kwaMasiza, occupied if in late 1990. Immediately after they had moved in three workers were killed when the bus in which they were travelling en route to the main hostel was strafed by machine-gun fire. Apart from the 39 who died last week 20 others have been killed and 10 injured in nine incidents of violence linked to the hostel between January 1991 and May 1992.

On July 15 1991, Thembalakhe Khawuleza from Boipatong was hacked to death when set upon by a mob of 300 men. They also threatened residents, who claim police arrived during the attack and called on the scattering attackers in Zulu not to flee. After this, they allegedly followed the heavily armed group, who returned to kwaMadala without making any arrests.

Four men were killed and three injured when gunmen armed with AK47s opened fire on the crowd at a local shebeen on February 21 1992 in Sharpeville. The attackers ere believed to have been kwaMadala residents.

On March 17 1992 four people were killed at the funeral of an Inkatha Freedom Party member, attended by hundreds of inmates from the kwaMadala Hostel, armed with traditional weapons and wearing red headbands. Before the funeral, the stabbed body of Joseph Ramonyaluoa (63) was found in the nearby veld after he was cornered by IFP mourners while on his way to work.

On April 19 in Sharpeville, eight African National Congress members and a six-year-oId child were killed and another person injured when five armed men invaded their home in the small hours. Before firing at the family indiscriminately, they raped one of the women. The only survivor, a 19-year-old girl, said the men claimed to be from kwaMadala.

Nancefield, Soweto

Eighty-seven people were killed and 225 injured in 51 incidents of violence linked to hostel.

Eleven people were killed and j73 people injured when violence erupted at the hostel on April 14 1991 between ANC and IFP supporters. Residents of nearby Power Park allege they saw police dropping off armed men minutes before the attack.

On May 6 1991, police found the bodies of two people hacked to death and burnt inside the hostel. Another corpse was found nearby.

On October 23 last year, nine people were killed and 38 injured when they were attacked while alighting from trains at the Nancefield and Orlando stations. The two men who led the attack were pointed out as hostel residents.

Mzimhlophe, Soweto

Twenty-three people were killed and 66 people injured in 15 attacks linked to this hostel.

On July 25 last year, two people were killed and two injured at Mzimhlope station when they were attacked by a group of men armed with guns and knobkerries. Witnesses said the more than 50 attackers were wearing red headbands.

Nine people were killed and 21 injured on February 8 this year when hostel dwellers clashed with residents in nearby Meadowlands. Victims were shot and hacked to death, and 12 people were set alight.

On March 25 this year, police found the charred body of a man outside the hostel. He had allegedly been petrol bombed.

Dobsonville, Soweto


Fifty-three people were killed and 29 injured in 25 incidents of violence linked to this hostel.

Nine people were killed and three injured when gunmen attacked the home of a family near the hostel on the night of December 8 last year.

After rumours of an impending IFP attack, Dobsonville school children were sent home early on September 10 last year. Later in the evening three residents were shot dead outside the hostel.

On March 10 this year, three people from the Snakepark squatter camp were killed and several injured when four men, believed by witnesses to be from the hostel, opened fire on squatters.

On March 13 this year, three Dobsonville residents were shot dead and four injured when three armed men wearing headbands forcibly entered a house, demanded money from the occupants and then opened fire. Police reported that two suspects were arrested at the hostel on March 16.

Jabulani, Soweto

Thirty-five people were killed and 18 injured in 28 attacks linked to this hostel. On March 3 this year, one man was killed and two others injured when two men armed with automatic rifles opened fire on them. Witnesses say the men then fled back into the hostel.

A municipal worker was shot dead and then set alight in his car outside the hostel on March 14 this year.

Madala, Alexandra

Forty-nine people were killed and 230 injured in 26 incidents of violence related to this hostel.

On November 2 1991, two men were killed after gunmen, said to have emerged from the hostel, indiscriminately opened fire on residents.

On November 6 1991, in an attack launched by IFP supporters on 2nd Avenue in Alexandra eight people were injured and a woman gang-raped. They then raided surrounding houses, demanding protection money from residents.

On March 22 1991, about 20 heavily armed men wearing red headbands kidnapped several residents and took them to the hostel, where they said they were assaulted, stabbed and robbed. Police later found five bodies in the township and 18 injured people.

In March this year, four people were killed – one of them a seven-year-old – and 16 injured when two groups of men from the hostel moved through the township firing on residents and attacking schools. Two houses were gutted during the attack.

Mshayazafe, Thokoza

Six people were killed and 28 injured in six major attacks allegedly mounted from this hostel.

On October 9 1991, six people were injured while on their way to Sam Ntuli’s funeral in Thokoza. A survivor said they were attacked by hostel-dwellers who abducted his companion to the hostel.

On November 17 1991, a resident of Mshayazafe Section in Bruntville said she was stabbed by hostel inmates who attacked the area that night. Afterwards, it was alleged, police did not attempt to disarm the hostel dwellers instead chasing youths during the attack.

On February 2 1992, in nearby Phola Park five people were killed and four injured when the armed occupants of a minibus passing the Angus railway station opened fire on the crowd. The driver, who was killed in retaliatory fire, was identified as a hostel inmate.

This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail newspaper