OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Thursday 11.00PM.
THE chief bodyguard of KwaZulu-Natal premier Ben Ngubane assisted the Inkatha Freedom Party’s secret Caprivi strike force in attacks on African National Congress strongholds, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committe heard on Thursday.
IFP member Phillip David Dhlamini, 31, told the hearing that he had operated in the Inchanga area outside Pietermaritzburg. Ngubane’s chief bodyguard, Jabulani Makhathini, “had strong links to many of the killings that took place in area,” Dhlamini said.
Makhathini was also a senior member of the Bureau of Secret Investigation which operated along the lines of the police special branch, the committee heard.
The overall commander of the Caprivi-trained unit, Daluxolo Madlanduna Luthuli, confirmed Dhlamini’s allegation that Makhathini was closely linked to the Caprivis.
Testifying on Thursday, Dhlamini told the committee that he was trained at Caprivi to become a soldier for the IFP. When he came back from training he was issued with a police appointment certificate but did not perform any real police duties.
At Caprivi, Dhlamini said, he was trained in the use of weapons such as the G3 Rifle, AK47, LMG machine gun, RPG7 rocket launcher, RPG5 rocket launcher, pump action shotgun, mortars, Tokorev pistol, Makarov pistol, RPK rifle, and Uzi submachine gun. He said the group was also trained to use explosives and different hand grenades such as the M5, M26, Pineapple and limpet mine.
Luthuli said the Caprivis were indoctrinated to fight the “communist forces of the ANC and UDF [United Democratic Front]”. The fact that the trainees were a military force was disguised by their being employed by the KwaZulu-Natal police.
Dhlamini told the committee that although he was ordered to kill Inkatha’s opponents he could not remember actually killing anyone. He said they were ordered to kill any opponent, attack ANC stronghold areas, burn their houses and kill the occupants.