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Umkhonto we Sizwe
Fighting for a Divided People
Authors: Thula Bopela and Daluxolo Luthuli
272pp; 242 X 168mm
16pp pages black and white
and colour pics; three in-text maps;
in-text illustrations;
trade paperback.
Published by Galago.
ISBN 1-919854-16-9
Thula Bopela, now a senior official with the Department of Defence, and Daluxolo Luthuli, now a lieutenant-colonel in the SANDF, went into exile as young Zulu boys in the early 60s and volunteered to join Umkhonto we Sizwe — the ANC’s military wing. In 1967 as part of the Luthuli Contingent along with notables like Chris Hani and Mjojo Mxwaku, they negotiated the treacherous gorges on the Zambezi River below Victoria Falls and crossed into Rhodesia from Zambia . They were accompanied by the guerrilla fighters of Joshua Nkomo’s ZIPRA. MK was tasked to aid ZIPRA in their struggle to free Rhodesia from white rule — ZIPRA would then help to free South Africa.
Their expectations were that after a few bursts of machine-gun fire the armed struggle would end with a political settlement. This was a certainty, so they were told, because UN sanctions would soon ensure that the Rhodesians’ oil supplies would run dry. It was emphasised that Rhodesian Army commander, General Sam Putterill, was a ZAPU sympathiser who would issue conflicting orders to create confusion. And that black RAR troops would either refuse to fight their African brothers or they would change sides and fight shoulder-to-shoulder with them.
This was simply wishful thinking and it would take many years before the freedom struggle triumphed in Rhodesia . After bitter skirmishes in the Wankie (Hwange), Tjolotjo (Tsholotsho) and Lupane areas, with casualties on both sides, the invaders were dispersed by the Rhodesian Security Forces. After spending time on the run Thula was captured, tried for ‘terrorism’ offences and sentenced to death — this was later commuted to life imprisonment. He was released in 1980 after 13 years in prison when Robert Mugabe assumed power in the new Zimbabwe . Daluxolo escaped to the Botswana border but was betrayed by an MK comrade and handed over to the South African Police. After conviction on terrorism charges he spent the next ten years on Robben Island.
Following ANC orders after his release, he joined Chief Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu to spy on it. The IFP found itself in a bitter struggle with the ANC-affiliated UDF (United Democratic Front). Daluxolo, sickened by Zulu fighting Zulu and the UDF’s use of necklacing (placing petrol-filled tyres around the necks of opponents and setting them alight) and other terror tactics, switched his full allegiance to the IFP. He was appointed commander-in-chief and chief political commissar of 200 Inkatha volunteers who were flown to the Caprivi Strip to be trained by the SADF’s Military Intelligence.
The Caprivians were formed into groups attached to the KwaZulu Police. This included hit squads tasked to attack and kill UDF sympathisers. After the unbanning of the liberation movements by President de Klerk in 1990 and during the period before South Africa’s freedom election in 1994, Daluxolo came to realise that the IFP was being manipulated by Military Intelligence who intended using it as a spearhead and a cloak for white right-wingers to wage war against the ANC to ensure it never gained political power.
Daluxolo was by then a much feared Inkatha warlord and his approaches to warn the ANC were rebuffed. In desperation he contacted Thula who had cut ties with MK and was working as an electrification manager for the power giant Escom. With Thula acting as go-between he made overtures to the ANC through their chief of intelligence in KwaZulu Natal, Jacob Zuma, and later directly with ANC president, Nelson Mandela. This resulted in Daluxolo withdrawing his IFP hit squads from the IFP/UDF struggle. There was talk of him becoming a likely target for assassination by Military Intelligence, so he was sent to Denmark under the witness protection programme. Following the 1994 election he was granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for offences committed whilst in command of Inkatha’s hit squads.
NB: The Price includes shipping costs inside South Africa.
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R225.00 |
