INTERNATIONAL

nternational support for what The turn to armed struggle became I(MK) was forthcoming soon after the South African Communist Party

© Shutterstock.com International Dimensions, (SACP) decided at its December 1960 conference to authorise the training of 1960-1967 a nucleus of fighters capable of leading a shift to violent methods, should the broader African National Congress (ANC) led liberation movement decide on a change of tactics. Arthur Goldreich was then a sub- manager in the Checkers store chain. The SACP’s Central Committee tasked him, using his job as cover, to explore the possibility of obtaining arms from Czechoslovakia. While the project was in its infancy, the Central Committee learned that the Chinese Communist Party was prepared to accept six people for military, Marxist and scholastic training. They selected Wilton Mkwayi, Nandha Naidoo, , Andrew Mlangeni, Abel Mthembu and Joe Gqabi to receive the training. The six gathered in Peking towards the end of 1961 before separating in January 1962, with Mlangeni and Naidoo heading north for radio training, and the remainder south to Nanking for military training in the use of guns, hand grenades, and explosives. Within South Africa, the ANC and its alliance partners met at a beach house near Stanger a couple of months after the failure of a three-day stay- at-home that had organised for the eve of the country’s proclamation as a republic on 31 May 1961. The purpose of the Congress Alliance meeting was to reconsider the movement’s tactics in the wake of the strike. The delegates decided to grant a request by Mandela for permission to establish an armed force. Faced with these converging diplomatic This marked the broader liberation movement’s endorsement of the turn pressures, the ANC opted to deploy MK, but to the use of armed force. Following the decision, Mandela drew Walter channel the infiltrations through the white-ruled Sisulu and Joe Slovo into the force’s states neighbouring South Africa, operating in High Command, while he worked with Slovo in fusing ANC and SACP alliance with the armed liberation movements personnel into its structures. This marked the formation of MK, which in the territories concerned. launched its first operations in December 1961. When the ANC’s National Executive By Thula Simpson Committee met on 3 January 1962, it

26 THE THINKER INTERNATIONAL decided to send Mandela to attend the ( had served as sergeants gave them a seven week Pan-African Freedom Movement of acting Commander since Mandela’s course in handling firearms. This was East and Central Africa’s (PAFMECA) arrest). followed by eight weeks’ training in an conference in Ethiopia the following The recruits Mandela had met in engineering school where they were month. The ANC succeeded in Dar es Salaam in July subsequently taught explosives and drill, and were obtaining PAFMECA membership received ninety-days of training in provided physical training. They were at the conference, while Mandela Ethiopia in Debre Zeit (where Mandela thereafter joined by twelve more MK read the movement’s address on 3 himself had been trained) in the use recruits for an eight week course at a February. Mandela, however, had an of firearms, bombs, hand grenades, Commanders’ school near Cairo where additional objective in Addis Ababa, camouflage and radio equipment. the training involved camouflage, that of exploring the possibilities of After about four months in Ethiopia ambush tactics, guerrilla warfare, hand- obtaining military training for MK. The the group split, with nine being sent to to-hand fighting, shooting practice and Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed infiltrate South Africa. The effort was explosives. The thirty-three cadres Forces, Lieutenant-General Kebbede unsuccessful. Their illegal crossing from would return to Dar es Salaam in Guebre offered training for twenty Tanganyika in the area of Tunduma August 1963. recruits, possibly more; Egypt places on 20-21 January 1963 was detected for seven; Algeria and Morocco ‘any by the Northern Rhodesian Police Operation Mayibuye number.’ The issue was also discussed who informed Southern Rhodesian The early months of 1963 saw with Malian, Guinean and Ghanaian counterparts, leading to the group’s the liberation movement engage its representatives. arrest on a train near Bulawayo on 26 international backers for support Mandela and his ANC colleague January. They would all be deported to for the next stage of the struggle, Robert Resha received training in South Africa. in which the requirements would shooting practice from the Algerian include assistance in preparing the National Liberation Army in Morocco return home of the trainees who were in March. Mandela would receive The Czechoslova- beginning to accumulate in Dar es more intensive training at the hands kians eventually Salaam. Arthur Goldreich joined the of the Ethiopian Army from late June approved shipments SACP’s London representative Vella to July, but the course was cut short Pillay for discussions with China, upon receipt of a telegram from the worth CZK 2,500,000 Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union ANC urgently requesting his return to to Tanganyika while over the requirements. At a meeting South Africa. When in Dar es Salaam with the Czechoslovakian Communist on route home in July, Mandela met agreeing to receive ten Party on 7 February 1963, Goldreich twenty-one MK recruits travelling to South Africans requested 3 tons of plastic explosives, Ethiopia for the training that he had 10,000 detonators, 500 machine guns, helped to organise. It was the first time for training. 300 pistols and 2,000 automatic rifles. he had been saluted by his own troops. He also called on Czechoslovakia Mandela would famously be arrested The other Ethiopian trainees to provide military training for outside Howick in Natal on 5 August proceeded north, first to southern 10-15 recruits. Moses Kotane visited while returning to Johannesburg having Sudan, then by steamer to Khartoum, Prague next, requesting 55 trucks, reported to ANC President Albert before flying to Algiers, from where 35 motorcycles, 100 binoculars, Luthuli on his African voyage. they headed west to Oujda just inside and also radio transmitters, receivers Morocco. There they formed part of a and bicycles. The Czechoslovakians Into Exile group of seventy-eight trainees known eventually approved shipments worth The six recruits sent to China by as the ‘Luthuli Detachment’ which CZK 2,500,000 to Tanganyika while the SACP in 1961 regrouped in Peking was headed by Macdonald Masala, agreeing to receive ten South Africans around July 1962 upon completion of one of the Ethiopian trainees. In bases for training. The first two trainees in their respective courses. After about 9 formerly used by French colonial Czechoslovakia were Omar Bhamjee months total in China, they returned forces, they received six months of and Amin Cajee who arrived on 16 to Dar es Salaam, then proceeded training in the use of Molotov cocktails March 1963 from London. They by bus to Northern Rhodesia, and and firearms. were followed by two further recruits train to Bechuanaland, before Joe Egypt was another North African (including Moses Kotane’s son Joseph) Modise drove them to the country that had extended pledges on 27 May, and Walter Sisulu’s nephew liberation movement’s underground of training to Mandela. Towards the Gerald van Rensburg a month later. headquarters at end of January 1963, twenty-one The five would receive training at the in Rivonia which was north of recruits left Dar es Salaam for Nairobi, Czechoslovakian Military Academy at Johannesburg. On their arrival in whereafter they flew to Cairo. On Brno; the remaining five would come December 1962, Joe Slovo told 30 January they were transported in 1964. Mhlaba that they had been waiting for to an infantry camp outside the city On 5 April 1963, Kotane joined him to take over as MK Commander where two English speaking Egyptian in Moscow for

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discussions with the Communist Party near the Black Sea. The training of the Soviet Union (CPSU). While Training in the included political science, weapons Kotane was a member of both the Soviet Union would handling, guerrilla tactics, engineering, SACP and the ANC, Tambo was not: it topography, signals, communication, was the first direct contact between the commence at armour, physical training, first aid, and ANC and the Soviet Union. the beginning of artillery. In January and February 1963, The first groups sent to Moscow Raymond Mhlaba and Wilton Mkwayi August 1963. in August 1963 began returning to headed to the Eastern Cape where Tanganyika in batches in August a year they contacted members of the MK continued throughout this crisis. later. Soon after their return to Dar es underground in the region. Then, in Between June and August, recruits had Salaam they were transported to the April, in accordance with a decision proceeded from Dar es Salaam to both village of Kongwa where they found made at Rivonia in January, Mhlaba Algeria and China. a dilapidated property that had been departed the country to inspect the Training in the Soviet Union allotted to them. On the first night they movement’s external camps. In May he would commence at the beginning of slept in the village courthouse before visited the training facilities in Morocco, August 1963, when a group of thirty cleaning out the premises the following as well as another camp that had been departed from MK’s ‘Luthuli Camp’ day. In preparing the camp they established in Algiers. His mission also in Dar-es-Salaam’s Ukonga suburb. made their own bricks with which took him to Czechoslovakia. Their destination was a two-storey they built houses and quarters. At the Mhlaba’s trip unfolded amidst building in a plantation on Moscow’s end of September 1964, sixty recruits planning by MK’s High Command for eastern outskirts where they received arrived from Odessa by which time guerrilla warfare. On 2 June 1963, Joe instruction in firearms, explosives, trained groups from Morocco were Slovo arrived in Bechuanaland in the topography, security, politics, radio at Kongwa, and on 21 November company of JB Marks. Slovo had in his communication and guerrilla warfare. five graduates from Czechoslovakia possession ‘Operation Mayibuye’, a After four months they split, with joined them. High Command blueprint that involved half remaining in Moscow and Ambrose Makiwane, who had been landing groups of 30 men by sea and the remainder proceeding to the trained in Cuba, became Kongwa air in four regions of South Africa where Volokolamsky Highway. Both groups camp’s first Commandant. One of his they would launch operations that received two further months of training. priorities involved imposing disciplinary would spark insurrection. Slovo wanted Towards the end of October 1963, measures for infractions committed to discuss the plan with Oliver Tambo another group had arrived in Moscow during the training. There had been and the ANC’s external leadership. and it included some of those trained numerous problems in Odessa, where The days following his departure in Egypt earlier in the year. the political training involved a Friday would however see MK’s internal Odessa was another main centre of seminar. When the Soviet instructors underground suffer a series of setbacks MK training in the Soviet Union. Forty criticised the Chinese interpretation of that rendered Operation Mayibuye recruits left Dar es Salaam in December communism (the Sino-Soviet split had incapable of achievement. On 9 June, 1963 and became part of a group emerged into the open by then – MK’s the South African Police arrested 61 of sixty that received a nine month Chinese connection would soon end) recruits seeking to exit the country course at the Soviet Military Academy they were challenged by a minority near the border with the Bechuanaland of the ANC recruits who had Maoist Protectorate. It was the first interception He convened sympathies. Makiwane called eleven of a convoy headed for the border. The names, and sentenced them to twenty leads provided by the arrests led to the discussions from cuts with a hose pipe for embarrassing detention of a number of recruiters on early 1965 among the the ANC with its Soviet allies. 24 June, including Another case involved four MK and Abel Mthembu who had both troops over infiltration members alleged to have raped a visited Liliesleaf Farm. Thereafter a routes and military woman in Odessa. The perpetrator was series of messages were sent from given lashes and was imprisoned for a Rivonia to Bechuanaland, warning strategy. There were week, while the rest were confined for Raymond Mhlaba not to return. sharp disagreements, about two weeks. He did not receive them and was Makiwane then set about preparing therefore present at Liliesleaf on 11 informed by the the guerrillas to return to South Africa. July when the farm was raided. Arthur diverse military He convened discussions from early Goldreich and Walter Sisulu were also 1965 among the troops over infiltration among the 17 people apprehended in doctrines to which routes and military strategy. There the operation. the cadres had been were sharp disagreements, informed exposed during their by the diverse military doctrines to After Rivonia which the cadres had been exposed The training of MK cadres had training. during their training. One view,

28 THE THINKER INTERNATIONAL advocated by a section of the Odessa quantity of arms at Kapiri Moshi, 139 public warning that if ‘terrorists’ were graduates, involved deploying fully miles north of Lusaka. These were ANC discovered in the country in the future, armed units capable of fighting their weapons – Skinner said it would be they would be more severely dealt way through if necessary. A contrary ‘barking up the wrong tree’ to connect with. view propounded by a portion of the them with nationalists from Rhodesia At the same time Tanzania was Moscow trainees, advocated sending – while he added there would be no keen for the guerrillas in its territory to small unarmed groups. Eventually prosecutions, for Zambia would not return home. On 18 November 1965 a decision was reached involving hinder ‘the fight for freedom.’ But the it had informed the OAU Liberation sending small unarmed groups via restrictions did prevent the kind of large Committee that it ‘would not accept Bechuanaland to train recruits in scale transit of MK cadres envisaged in any refugee intended for military the Transkei and the larger cities of Modise’s plan. training abroad until an appreciable South Africa. These groups would The logjam was partially broken number of those […] stationed in remain in contact with Dar es Salaam early in 1967 when Zambia revised its Tanzania have been sent out on and Lusaka, and on receipt of a policy for reasons outlined by Kaunda engagements.’ positive signal would launch rural in a letter to President Mobutu of the Faced with these converging guerrilla warfare and urban sabotage Democratic Republic of Congo on diplomatic pressures, the ANC opted with weapons delivered along the 15 January 1967. Kaunda mentioned to deploy MK, but channel the Transkei coast. Portuguese military incursions, the infiltrations through the white-ruled constant threat from Rhodesia and states neighbouring South Africa, The Return Home South West Africa, and refugee flows operating in alliance with the armed Ambrose Makiwane and from Mozambique, before stating liberation movements in the territories became embroiled in a struggle that ‘Our geographical location […] concerned. for control of the Army which was has placed us in a position where we This informed two missions. The first resolved during 1965 when the latter in June 1967 saw MK send two units of arrived at Kongwa in the company of about three men each to Mozambique Oliver Tambo, Moses Kotane, Moses Kenneth to investigate the possibility of finding Mabhida and Mzwai Piliso. They were Kaunda had stated a route to the northern Transvaal. there to confirm leadership posts. They were taken to the Rovuma River Makiwane was announced Kongwa he did not favour by Samora Machel who told them camp commander, while after about military action against he doubted whether it would be three days of consultation the recruits South Africa ‘until possible for them to reach South Africa were told Modise would become MK because FRELIMO had not Commander. all possible peaceful penetrated to the border. One group In his new position, Modise revised means’ had been nonetheless proceeded to Niassa and Makiwane’s infiltration plans. MK the other to Cabo Delgado. They would now send large groups to exhausted. returned without having identified Zululand, Sekhukhuneland and the a route for the reason identified by Transkei in order to train people for must fight a war on three major fronts Machel. guerrilla warfare. The problem MK – West, South and East.’ He therefore The other, main mission was faced was that Modise and Makiwane’s proposed a division of labour whereby through Rhodesia, where the ANC plans were alike premised on having Zambia would focus on the south operated jointly with the Zimbabwe overland access to South Africa. (Rhodesia, South West Africa and African People’s Union (ZAPU). A However as far back as 12 February South Africa), the Congo on Angola, combined group of 81 ANC-ZAPU 1964, soon after his installation as and Tanzania on Mozambique. He troops crossed the Zambezi into Northern Rhodesian Prime Minister, wrote a letter to Julius Nyerere to Rhodesia on 2 August 1967. MK’s Kenneth Kaunda had stated he did similar effect the same day. aim was for its guerrillas to assist not favour military action against This cleared the way for the ZAPU to establish bases in Rhodesia’s South Africa ‘until all possible peaceful deployment of troops through Zambia, Lupane and Tsholotsho areas. The means’ had been exhausted. but there were additional blockages remainder would proceed to South MK’s capacity to infiltrate its further down the preferred infiltration Africa where they would prepare for personnel was hampered by it having pipeline. On 26 September 1966 - guerrilla warfare as per Modise’s plan. to wait for this trial to run its course. four days before Botswana received The latter would constitute a new This is not to say that the cadres were its independence - seven armed MK ‘Luthuli Detachment’, named after immobilised in Tanzania, for Zambia’s cadres were captured in the north of the ANC President who had died on enforcement of the restrictions that country. At Botswana’s first post- 21 July 1967 after being run over by was permissive. For example on 7 independence Cabinet meeting, the a train. September 1965 Zambia’s attorney government chose to deport them to When crossing the Zambezi, MK’s general James Skinner announced South Africa, but rescinded this and armed and trained combatants at last that the police had confiscated a huge repatriated them to Lusaka with a started their war proper. ■

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