Mpandla, 20 Cents and My- Self Nave Been Co-Ordinating MK Actions in the Durban Area Since the Beginning of the Year. Tna- Bane

We reached Umlazi at 0600hrs and decided that the material left in KwaMashu would be NO SURRENDER fetched that afternoon. When Mpandla came to collect me and The 'Citizen' of September 9 1986 reported: "Weapons ... were found in a car in which four suspected ANC terrorists were killed in a shootout with police Thabane to fetch the material in Durban on Sunday night. The men were shot dead in a firefight with the I was somehow occupied at police after being cornered... At the time the police, including members of the home and could not come with reaction unit of the security police, were investigating an incident in which a them. They then decided to take KwaMashu house was fired upon and attacked with three hand grenades . ." 20 cents and Mbongeni. True, four MK combatants fell heroically that Sunday. What the "Citizens" deliberately forgets to mention is that they did not die alone. They took many boer soldiers and policemen with them. This is the battle in which Thabane SPOTTED MemeJa, alias Bridge Thwala, lost his life. Below follows the story as related by When leaving KwaMashu the one member of the unit. blue cressida they were riding in was spotted by the police. That Mpandla, 20 cents and my could have been due to the fact self nave been co-ordinating MK that the area was heavily patrol actions in the Durban area since led by the police following the the beginning of the year. Tna- bane is one of the comrades attack on Shabalala's house or who were trained outside the some people could have seen the country and sent to Durban. He direction taken by Mpandla and joined our unit two weeks before the other comrade when they this battle. were going to hide the AK's the One of the main tasks we previous day. One more possi gave ourselves was to eliminate bility is that Thabane could have the notorious Inkatha leaders, been spotted by the police since viz. Sabelo, Shabalala, Mlot- he was known by them and shwa and Bayethe. This is im wanted. portant so as to show the people * that MK is capable of dealing After their car had been spot with their tormentors. We then divided reconnaissance tasks ted roadblocks were set up, among ourselves with the pur while other*£olice vehicles gave pose of locating their hiding a chase. The first roadblock was olaces. set up between KwaMashu and Newlands. The comrades in the Mpandla found Shabalala's hid car had decided to fight back, ing place and gave me all the true, to the MK tradition of details. We then assigned 20 no surrender. Upon reaching the cents to conduct" a much more roadblock Mbongeni, armed with thorough study of the place two hand grenades, was dropped and establish Shabalala's routine. to challenge the enemy while After collecting enough data ally we had agreed that we would others continued. He hurled the we decided to pul) the mission knock and force our way into hand grenades at a city police car out on Saturday, September 6. the yard but later decided against with four cops, damaging the car it due to the security situation. and killing all four cops. There I took Thabane and three We decided to hit from a dis after he was shot dead. other comrades from one of our tance and retreat. units. We left for Shabalala's We moved closer to the target The second roadblock was set place in KwaMashu at 1900hrs and hurled the four hand gren up under Umgeni bridge where and reached the place an hour ades we had, backing them with Thabane, armed with an AK with later. He was not in the house pistol and sub-machine gun fire. two full magazines, was dropped. at the time and we decided to After the attack Thabane told us He fought till he ran out of am wait for him We were armed that it was not wise to retreat munition and was finally hit by with 2 AK's, 2 Makarov pistols with AK's all the way to Umlazi bullets fired from a helicopter. and 4 Fl hand grenades. as they are not easy to conceal. That is how he fell. Shabalala's house was fenced They had to be left a place near The third roadblock blocked by a high concrete wall and he by. The problem with that was the highway just after the quarry had a big and vicious dog. In a the place he had in mind was road turn-off. Even there the way the place was security tight. too near the target and could MK tigers could not be stopped. One little disadvantage on our be raided. But due to the time Instead they dropped 20 cents, part was that we were not very at our disposal we agreed to his also armed with an AK and two familiar with the area, although proposal on condition that the full magazines. He also fought we had already established our material would be removed not till he ran out of ammunition.. route of withdrawal. There is later than the following day. That is where he fell. Then the also a police station only a mile We then divided ourselves into car, driven by Mpandla, was from the target. Which meant two groups of two and three. I chased. At the UMlazi turn- that we could not spend a long and two others retreated to our off he decided to stop. He time within the radius after meeting point, armed with pistols. pulled out his pistol and also acting. Thabane and one had to rush to fought till he ran out of bullets. We waited till 2100hrs when a hide the AK's first. Later they When he was trying to drive man drove in in a mercedes-benz. safely joined us at the meeting away a bullet fatally hit him Before we could move " into point Mpandla had organised in the forehead. action a number of hippos where we would base till early drove past and we realised that in the morning when we would PICK UP THEIR SPEARS! we were not safe at all. Initi leave Kwa-Mashu. 55 .

Load more