Paul Kirk
The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court heard sensational evidence this week about the involvement of National Intelligence Agency (NIA) operatives in political violence in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
The head of the NIA in KwaZulu-Natal, Desiree Vasloo, testified after a number of her agents admitted to involvement in irregular activities linked to violence in the Midlands town of Richmond.
Asked by advocate Jenny Wild if the creed of her organisation was “duplicity and deceit”, Vasloo replied: “Yes.”
The agents have been testifying in a case in which KwaZulu-Natal’s head of detective services, Director Eric Nkabinde, and Captain Vally Mbele are being charged with defeating the ends of justice during investigations into the Richmond violence. They are alleged to have perjured themselves in order to convict suspects.
One of Vasloo’s agents, a Mr X, admitted earlier to having lent an NIA-issue gun used by Jabulani Dlamini, a Richmond councillor, in the notorious “tavern massacre” – a shooting in 1998 in which seven people including the deputy mayor of Richmond Percy Thompson were killed. Richmond was at the time wracked by violence between the ANC and supporters of Nkabinde, a member of the United Democratic Movement.
Asked by Wild in cross-examination if “the end always justified the means”, the agent, Mr X, answered “Yes.”
It is not the first time that the agent has been involved in politically motivated violence in Richmond. The agent testified in the trial of Nkabinde, when the Richmond strongman was charged with 17 counts of murder. Soon after the trial, Mr X was involved in a shooting in which he wounded one of Nkabinde’s bodyguards, Xolani Dlamini.
Mr X claimed he shot in self-defence but Dlamini claimed the shooting occurred after the agent followed him to the taxi rank from the Richmond police station. Police records showed that Dlamini had in fact been at the police station earlier in the day and had laid a charge of assault and pointing a firearm against the agent. Head of the South African Police Service, special investigations Director Bushie Engelbrecht at the time said that he had information that the shooting incident was the third time the bodyguard and the spy had been involved in a confrontation.
One of the agent’s close friends and fellow spy is the brother of two men standing trial for the murder of Nkabinde in 1999.
This agent’s brothers allegedly also came into possession of a gun used as an exhibit in the tavern massacre investigation. The gun was retrieved from the brothers by the two agents after it had inexplicably been given to them by a Richmond policeman, Sergeant Nonhlanhla Ngubane.
The revelations in the court prompted advocate Wild to an outburst in the corridors of the courtroom. Speaking to a crowd of journalist and policemen outside the courtroom, she said: “In my opinion if you removed all the intelligence agents and their guns from Richmond there would be no killings.”
Vasloo told the court there was “specific evidence” of police complicity in the Richmond violence. However, no police officers have ever been arrested in connection with the killings that have plagued the town.
Earlier this year Bruce Mhlongo, one of the accused in the Nkabinde murder, was exposed by the Mail & Guardian for having worked for the NIA. At the time of his arrest, he was found with sophisticated NIA listening apparatus. He has since turned state witness against the other accused.
The NIA held an internal investigation into the matter, but the results of the probe have yet to be made public.