amnesty decision
Wonder Hlongwa
A man who ordered the killing of more than 50 people has been appointed a lieutenant colonel by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) – before the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has decided whether he will be granted amnesty.
The amnesty committee will only rule on Daluxolo Luthuli’s application on December 14, but he has already been a member of the SANDF for four months.
Luthuli (50), the former commander of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Caprivi- trained hit squads, applied for amnesty for the multiple murders of African National Congress activists in KwaZulu- Natal between 1986 and 1993.
Deputy Minister of Defence Ronnie Kasrils said Luthuli’s appointment is not irregular. “We have members in the SANDF who applied for amnesty and they are still working for the army,” said Kasrils. He applauded Luthuli for having made honest and important testimony to the truth commission.
Luthuli, the grandson of the late ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli, is a former Umkhonto weSizwe commander who served 10 years on Robben Island. He was arrested in Durban in 1969 and released 10 years later.
On his release, he joined the IFP, and in 1986 he accompanied 206 IFP members who were trained by the then South African Defence Force (SADF) in the Caprivi Strip in Northern Namibia. They embarked on a killing spree directed by the IFP’s senior leaders.
Most former SADF members are unhappy about Luthuli’s appointment. Luthuli said they refused to let him to join the special forces, and he was “forced” to take the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Dissatisfaction in the SANDF with Luthuli stems from his switch last year from the IFP back to the ANC.
“Ronnie [Kasrils] wrote to [former SANDF chief of staff] Georg Meiring in February this year telling him that I must be integrated into the army,” said Luthuli. “But Meiring ignored it until August this year.”
Luthuli was refused entry into the special forces because he wasn’t on the certified personnel register as a member of the IFP’s armed wing. The register was drawn up by all liberation armies to certify which of their soldiers were eligible to join the integrated SANDF. Luthuli was not on the list because the IFP denies having an armed wing.
He said a number of the SADF soldiers who acted as instructors at the Caprivi training camp are now senior members in the SANDF. “These people were trained to kill and then given to warlords and chiefs to eradicate ANC supporters,” said Luthuli in his amnesty application early this year.
SANDF Chief of Staff Siphiwe Nyanda said he doesn’t know anything about Luthuli’s appointment as lieutenant colonel.
The Mail & Guardian has learned that Luthuli’s appointment was a strategic move to infiltrate the right wing in the military. His knowledge about the military and his insight into the third force was the strength behind his appointment.
Luthuli made headlines three years ago when he lifted the lid on the third force involvement in violence that engulfed KwaZulu-Natal in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“I know where there are the six truckloads of weapons delivered to the IFP by Eugene de Kock. I was there when those weapons were delivered,” said Luthuli. De Kock is a former commander of the notorious Vlakplaas farm, where anti-apartheid activists were murdered. He is serving a life sentence for atrocities committed by Vlakplaas operatives under his command.
Luthuli is known to be enjoying the support of the senior leadership of the ANC. Having joined Umkhonto weSizwe at the age of 14, Luthuli fought side by side with Chris Hani, Moses Mabhida and Kasrils in the Wankie Campaign against the Ian Smith government in the then Rhodesia.