The Weekly Mail (now the Mail & Guardian) first exposed the existence of the Caprivi 200 hit-squad in 1990, when it reported the group was trained at a secret training base called Hippo on the banks of the Cuando River in the Caprivi Strip.
The base was not far from the Angolan border and was controlled by the South African military’s chief of staff intelligence.
At least two batches of Inkatha fighters — each about 100 strong — were trained to use AK-47s, RPG7 rocket launchers, G3 automatic rifles, Browning machine guns and anti-personnel mines. The course at Hippo lasted seven months and included lessons on urban and guerrilla warfare, use of explosives and demolition methods.
The South African Defence Force’s officer in charge of training was Major “Jakes” Jacobs, a former instructor for military special operations. Jacobs and Brigadier Cor Van Niekerk, former director of the military’s Special Tasks 2 unit, are among the military officers charged with Malan in connection with the KwaMakhutha massacre.
The ITU made a vital breakthrough in its investigation into Third Force violence in February this year when Daluxolo Luthuli, former commander of the Caprivi 200, decided to defect from Ulundi and co-operate with the ITU.
At the time, Luthuli told M&G freelance reporter Enoch Mthembu he acted as chief of staff for the Caprivi 200 and also Inkatha’s military council between 1987 and the early 1990s.
“They (the paramilitary units) were killing Inkatha opponents, that is ANC leaders, with instructions from IFP leaders. Sometimes they would kill ANC people at their own discretion and then report back to their seniors so that cover-ups could take place,” he said.
Luthuli said during the interview he had decided to defect from Inkatha because he regretted his role in the hit-squad network.
* Many of the Caprivi 200 are still employed in old KwaZulu Police structures now absorbed into the South African Police Service.