The South African Defence Force is to deploy 2 500 troops in the strife-torn East Rand townships, about five times the number of soldiers currently serving in the area, say sources close to the Transitional Executive Council.
The force will include significant numbers of engineers and medical personnel who will take an active pan in the disaster relief programme announced this week by President FW de Klerk, ANC leader Nelson Mandela, and the TEC’s Mac Maharaj.
Directed by the special task group appointed by De Klerk, the troops will move quickly to restore stability to Thokoza, Katlehong, and Vosloorus, then work to create amenities, repair utilities, and help residents return to homes abandoned during the fighting of the past several months.
A spokesman said this week the SADF was awaiting instructions from the task group on the precise force composition which would be required. Once the army knew how may engineers, doctors, nurses and infantrymen were required, the form could be mobilised and assembled.
It is understood the TEC is pressing for a black officer to be put in charge of the form, and that it wants the bulk of the soldiers to be drawn from township backgrounds. This will increase the chances of the force acting sensitively and gaining legitimacy quickly.
The SADF currently has one black brigadier and several black commandants. But a spokesman said it would make sense to put an officer in charge who has experience of the area. The ANC had experienced some difficulty in finding someone with the experience to match De Klerk’s senior appointment.
Former Congress of South African Trade Unions chief Jay Naidoo had been under discussion, but was already over-committed. Phillip Dexter and Ronnie Kasrils had been unavailable for the same reason. The final selection, South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union president Duma Nkosi, is regarded as a strong choice bemuse he is in the leadership of the Thokoza ANC branch.
The reconstruction plan includes massive financial support for the upgrading of the hostels in the area. Eskom would also be ready to begin a comprehensive electrification programme within a week. In an effort to convince all of the residents of the non-partisan nature of the operation, the campaign is to focus on sectors across party lines, rather than Inkatha-held hostels or ANC-dominated residential areas.
“There will be no blanket military turnout, but vigorous action focusing on no-go areas like Khumalo and Schoeman streets,” said a senior source, referring to a hotly contested area near the Thokoza hostel. The soldiers would clear the troubled zones of weapons and ensure that only bona-fide residents were allowed to return to the houses and hostels, said the source.
Inkatha has been invited to send a representative to the task group which is limited by former air force chief General Jan van Loggerenberg. But Inkatha has yet to name its member of the task group. Mustering only about 500 demonstrators, this week’s Inkatha protests against the withdrawal of the SAP Internal Stability Unit from the East Rand townships is being interpreted as an indication that support could be waning for the hard-line rejectionist approach of the Thokoza IFP branch.
Katlehong and Vosloorus IFP branch–are known to be interested in participating in peace structures. The army will act as a catalyst, said Maharaj, co-author of the relief plan. Joining forces with a strengthened SAP contingent, the troops will move quickly to show the population that they can expect protection from government forces.
“Their actions will be neither punitive nor discriminatory, but designed to create conditions in which the community accepts the SADF” and the SAP as forces for stability in the area, said Maharaj. Having established the legitimacy of the security forces, the task group would be able to call for community co-operation in dealing with SDUs and Inkatha’s self-protection units.
Referring obliquely to the issue of rogue SDUs, Mandela told a crowd in Katlehong this week: “The plan requires us to take very hard decisions ourselves – it is not just directed at the enemies of the people.”