Malan trial: Before the KwaMakhutha massacre, there was the Mpophomeni massacre. Both were connected to the SADF’s military support of
Hazel Friedman
THE murder of three union shop stewards on a lonely road near Mpophomeni on the night of December 5 1986 will be remembered as the beginning of the most violent period in this country’s history.
These deaths, along with the KwaMakutha massacre — for which General Magnus Malan and 19 co-accused will face trial early next year — were pivotal in transforming the Natal Midlands into South Africa’s killing fields.
They also marked the beginning of “third force” operations in South Africa.
A chilling excerpt from the indictment against the Malan 20 confirms that these early massacres by the “Caprivi 200” hit squad were designed to stoke “black-on-black violence” and undermine organisations aligned to the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal. The Caprivi 200 plan is alleged to have been set up by Malan.
Describing preparations for the KwaMakhutha massacre, the indictment says: “The 10 AK47 rifles were handed to the [Caprivi] group and (SADF officer Johan) Opperman gave accused no 1 [Peter Msane] a Tokarev pistol, together with a piece of paper on which was written OChapter 1, verse 1′, which was to be left on the scene for effect.”
The attackers made two mistakes: They killed 13 civilians but failed to murder Victor Ntuli, the intended victim — and forgot to leave the paper behind. Its prophecy was, however, to be fulfilled: more than
10E000 people have died in the civil war that began with these events.
The Mpophomeni massacre, which according to eyewitnesses was carried out by Caprivi fighter Vela Mchunu and a group of accomplices, is engraved in the collective memory of its residents.
In a poignant piece for the 1986 funeral of the union leaders, worker poet Mi Hlatshwayo
We shall remember your smiling and simple
that drove other men
to
rape our unity
raid our camps
and kill our pride.
Yet, nine years later — despite the key role that Mpophomeni has played in South Africa’s recent history — the township near Howick appears to have been forgotten by the outside world.
Organised by the Metal and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (Mawu) in a two-year struggle for union recognition, the 1985 strike at the Sarmcol factory in Howick, mostly staffed by Mpophomeni residents, became a pioneering campaign for the labour movement in South Africa.
It led to the massive Edendale march in support of the United Democratic Front, the 1985 stayaway in the Natal Midlands and nationwide sympathy strikes by Mawu members. These events helped trigger Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s appeal to military intelligence, documented in the indictment, for help in setting up his paramilitary unit (see accompanying story).
It was inevitable that Mawu activists and the people of Mpophomeni — where 40 percent of the strikers lived — became a target of the Caprivi unit. In December 1986, soon after the paramilitary troops arrived back in the country, Inkatha organised a “fair” in Mpophomeni.
On December 5, the night before the event was due to take place, busloads of Inkatha supporters arrived at the Mpophomeni community hall.
Alerted by rumours of an impending Inkatha attack, shop stewards’ council chair Phineas Sibiya and fellow activist Simon Ngubane began keeping watch on the community hall. They were joined by Mike Sibiya, Phineas’ stepbrother and Florence Mnikathi, a member of the health committee.
Their car was surrounded by armed men — including Caprivi hit man Mchunu — wearing the uniform of the KwaZulu Police. The union leaders were forced out of the car and dragged to the community hall where they were tortured and repeatedly ordered to denounce Mawu.
They were then driven to a remote area where they were forced from the car at gunpoint. Mike Sibiya managed to escape by blocking the barrel of the gun with his hand and diving into a river bed. He heard the gunshots and saw the sky light up in flames. Nine years later Sibiya is still too afraid to return to Mpophomeni. And although three men were subsequently arrested in connection with the massacre, they were never prosecuted.
Today the settlement that was once an emblem of solidarity has become little more than a haven for refugees fleeing their homes from the KwaZulu-Natal civil war.
The Sarmcol Workers Co-operative — an agricultural project initiated by the union and the community — has all but closed down. Of the original four projects, only one remains and of the 20 workers who started the co-operative, only seven have stayed on.
Money is short and food is scarce. Compounding the problem of increasing debt and ongoing crop failure is the threat of land repossession. The funders who assisted Mawu with purchasing the co-operative, are now demanding their money back. Says Moses Nelele, chairperson of the agricultural project: “You can cry if see what has happened to us here.”
The community’s anger is directed not only at Sarmcol, hit squads or the civil war which has reduced a pastoral landscape to a war zone. It is also aimed at former colleagues, some of whom are now in government.
Sociologist Debby Bonnin, who has worked closely with Sarmcol strikers and residents from Mpophomeni, says: “The contribution of the strikers to the union movement and the sacrifices made for struggle as a whole should not be ignored … Their story is one of bitterness, abandonment and betrayal.”