Even the police in Mpumalanga are afraid to testify against local gangs, report Sharon Hammond and Justin Arenstein
STATE-SPONSORED gangs, who used government patronage to build criminal business empires, featured prominently during Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) sittings in Mpumalanga this week.
Although state support for the thugs officially ended with the dissolution of the security branch in the late 1980s, the commission believes the gangs are alive and still enjoying protection from former security branch members.
TRC co-chairman Alex Boraine said potential witnesses were so afraid to testify about the gangs that additional police protection had to be arranged at the hearings.
Mpumalanga police superintendent John Nkuna, who was seconded to the TRC in order to oversee the protection of witnesses, refused to comment on investigations into the gangs. He was afraid they would “target me”.
“People in this region are terrified of two groups called Kabasa and Sibaya Esikhulu, who have earned a reputation for assassinating you in some brutal manner if you oppose their interests,” explained provincial Safety and Security MEC Steve Mabona.
“Both these ‘businessmen’s gangs’ and another similar gang in Ermelo, called the Black Cats, are currently being investigated by my special investigation’s unit,” he added.
The Black Cats gang was the focus of a Goldstone Commission inquiry in 1992 after the Mail & Guardian disclosed that its members had been trained by Inkatha paramilitary fighters to harass African National Congress members in townships around Ermelo.
Mabona said Kabasa, which operates around Nelspruit, had adopted its name from Soweto tsotsis who attacked homes and gang-raped girls. He added that the gangs had extensive links with conservative elements in the police force.
“They believe that they’re the township untouchables and are primarily criminal in their activities. Kabasa and especially Sibaya Esikhulu (Big Kraal) are extremely well organised,” added Mabona.
Kabasa was formed in 1986 to fight members of the Leaks Youth Movement (Leyomo), supporters of the ANC-aligned United Democratic Front. The gang was run by five heavy-weight black businessmen.
Two gang members, including alleged leader Ex Mkhatshwa, were murdered by unidentified attackers after at least seven ANC youths were killed by the gang during ambushes in KaNyamazane township near Nelspruit. Mkhatshwa was shot dead in 1988, while another member, Lucky Nsimbini, was forced to swallow petrol before being covered with cardboard boxes, doused in fuel and burnt alive. The three surviving gang members apparently still terrorise businessmen, no longer for political gains but to eliminate any business competition in their territory around Nelspruit.
Recently two of the alleged members of the gang, Solly “Mabhubesi” Sifunda and P Malumana, appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of an ANC activist from Soweto and a Mozambican citizen in 1986.
Steve Tsotsetsi and Mozambican Kenneth Maphemas were killed on separate occasions, but in the same execution manner their hands and feet were tied before three truck tyres were placed around their bodies and set alight.
During a special court sitting on a Saturday morning, the men were released on R1 000 bail each.
Investigating the case is the head of the Mpumalanga special investigation unit, Captain Fanie Molapo, who played a leading role during recent investigations into third force operations in the province.
Despite the dedication of some investigators, Mabona’s greatest concern is the ongoing police protection the gangs still seem to enjoy.
Although declining to give names, he charged that on a number of occasions senior officers totally unconnected with the relevant investigation had stepped in after the arrest of gang members and had ordered all charges be dropped.
“There are parts of the police which are horribly corrupt. Senior officers interfere in cases they should have no interest in and even travel 200km from Middelburg to Nelspruit to ensure charges are dropped,” he said.
“Just last week, the special unit arrested a hitman in KwaZulu-Natal who is used by Mpumalanga businessmen. A senior officer managed to get the man out on bail on a small charge after he was initially denied bail on 10 counts of murder.”
Mabona also expressed his concern that despite almost 100 cases linking policemen to the Black Cats gang, the investigation had apparently been frozen by its new police supervisor.
No Kabasa member testified before the TRC, although one gang member, who started a church and declared himself a preacher, claimed during a service two weeks ago that he would use the commission to clear his name.