Farouk Chothia
FRESH allegations about a high-ranking South African policeman arming an Inkatha warlord three weeks after the April elections have heightened ANC frustrations in kwaZulu/Natal over the failure of Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi to act on reports linking Natal policemen to violence.
The charges are contained in an affidavit by a man who says he witnessed Internal Stability Unit head Lieutenant Colonel James Fourie handing weapons to alleged Inkatha warlord Sqoloza Xolo on May 17.
The affidavit has been submitted to Mufamadi’s office. Also before the minister are at least two other reports said to implicate police in the violence.
One involves Sundumbili station commander Major Owen Zama, who was named in a Transitional Executive Council report on kwaZulu hit squads released earlier this year.
The ANC has been waging a four-year campaign on the lower south coast to have Fourie removed from the area.
In the affidavit, the man _ the Mail & Guardian is keeping his identity secret after his home was attacked in an apparent attempt on his life _ gives details about Fourie’s alleged delivery of arms to Xolo, identified by ANC sources as an Inkatha warlord in the Port Shepstone area.
The man states Fourie and Xolo addressed a meeting in Mvutshini, a ward in the kwaXolo tribal area, on May 17.
“After the meeting, I personally witnessed Colonel Fourie handing over an assortment of weapons to Xolo who put these weapons into a Ford van belonging to one Mr Sima,” he said.
He believed the cache included two G-3 rifles, two 9mm firearms, about six 38 firearms, about 20 home-made guns, about 20 spears and a “number of pangas and sharp instruments and axes”.
“I also heard one Stoti Nqoko asking Colonel Fourie for ammunition. I thereafter saw Colonel Fourie and one other ISU member go behind a building. I saw no further.”
The regional commissioner of police in Natal, Brigadier Dirk Schoeman, has reportedly said police are investigating the allegations but that such investigations had proved “futile” in the past.
ANC senator on the lower south coast, Siyabonga Cwele, urged both Mufamadi and kwaZulu/Natal police minister Reverend Celami Mthethwa to respond to their pleas to quell violence.
“They are talking to the generals but not to the people. Patience is running out,” said Cwele.
Police ministry spokesman Craig Kotze said Mufamadi could not embark on a “witch-hunt” as this would “completely” violate the new constitution.
“Everybody has rights _ including the accused,” he said.
Fourie was promoted to lieutenant colonel during the past year. Allegations levelled at him and his officers in the ISU include:
* ISU members have carried out raids on ANC-strongholds in search of weapons _ only to be followed by an Inkatha attack on the area;
* ISU members have escorted and protected an attacking impi;
* ISU members locked-up mourners attending a funeral when there was no case against them;
* ISU members manned a road-block, wearing balaclavas.
But indications are that if Mufamadi acts at all, it will not be soon.
Kotze said that before the minister took action, he would wait for police investigations to be completed and a decision by the attorney-general on whether or not to prosecute.
Kotze said this principle applied in the case of Sundumbili kwaZulu Police station commander Major Zama, whom Mufamadi is “considering” suspending in the face of allegations of political bias and obstructing the course of justice.
Zama had until Wednesday night to respond to the allegations before Mufamadi made a final decision. Kotze said yesterday as far as he was aware Zama had not done so. He said Mufamadi had to make a decision on Zama’s suspension.
Meanwhile, kwaZulu/Natal attorney-general Tim McNally has refused to prosecute IFP senator Philip Powell for being in possession of an illegal weapon found during a raid conducted by the TEC on the eve of elections.
A gun, apparently similar to those manufactured at the Vlakplaas hit squad base, was found in Powell’s car.
It took police about a month to question Powell on the weapon.
McNally said there was “insufficient evidence to rebutt Powell’s explanation” that the firearm had been found in a bus and that he was planning to hand it over to the police authorities in Ulundi.
University of Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas said several questions remained unanswered, including whose finger-prints were found on the weapon and whether police were seeking other suspects.
But SAP spokesman Major Bala Naidoo said: “The investigation is closed.”