The ANC and Umkhonto We Sizwe in Angola, 1976-1989
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A State ofExile: The ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe in Angola, 1976-1989 Maren Saeboe Dissertation submitted in fulfilment ofthe requirements for the degree ofMaster ofArts in Historical Studies Programme ofHistorical Studies Faculty ofHuman and Social Sciences University ofNatal Durban December 2002 Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the help and support ofPhyllis Naidoo and my mother Hilde Karin Larsen. My supervisor Professor Yonah Seleti made it possible to fmish the work. I am also grateful to the History Programme at the University ofNatal for guidance. Doctor Vladirnir Shubin at the University of Moscow and Professor Sean Morrow of the National Research Council read and commented on Chapters Three, Four and Five. Howard Barrell made his thesis available to me on disc. I am grateful to all for guidance and advice. The staff at the archives at Fort Hare and the Mayibuye Centre were extremely helpful in finding the right boxes and transcripts. I would also like to thank all those who were willing to be interviewed. I am especially grateful to Major General Willie Leslie and Lieutenant Mathule Mathiba of the SANDF who informed me about the plight ofthose MK veterans who had returned home but who were not yet re-integrated into South African society. 11 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the mothers ofthose who have been or are in exile. III Abstract After its banning in 1961 the ANC, together with the South African Communist Party, adopted the armed struggle. Urnkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was formed and had its debut in December ofthe same year. When the MK command was arrested at Rivonia outside Johannesburg most ofthe remaining members went into exile. The banning ofthe ANC forced the members not just to go underground but also to go into exile and their first haven was the newly independent Tanzania. The 1960's witnessed the flight into exile of most members ofthe organisation. In Tanzania, members of the ANC and MK came into contact with members of other liberation movements, including the liberation movements [Tom Portuguese Africa. As the 1960's progressed MK was responsible for training recruits in various African countries, most notably in Tanzania and Zambia. In 1967 they launched their first major campaign, together with the Zimbabwe People's Union (ZAPU), into southern Rhodesia in an effort to reach South Africa. The campaign failed and several members were put in prison in Bechuanaland. On their release some of the cadres, amongst them Chris Hani, voiced criticism ofthe leadership. This criticism was expressed just as the leaders of the organisation gathered for their first major conference in exile, the Morogoro conference in Tanzania At Morogoro the emphasis on armed struggle was affirmed, and it was agreed that the other pillar supporting the struggle would be international relations. After the Morogoro conference MK continued to train recruits in Zambia and Tanzania, but the situation was increasingly difficult as internal problems in these countries led to the expulsion ofseveral liberation movements. IV In 1974 a new wave of South Africans went into exile, and at the same time the liberation war in Portuguese Africa entered its last phase. When Angola became independent the ANC began negotiating with the new government about the possible establishment ofnew training facilities for MK in Angola. When the students of Soweto went into revolt, reacting against the introduction of Afrikaans as the main language in their schools, the ANC, the MK command and their rivals the PAC were taken aback. The first wave of new recruits was flown to Tanzania before they were re-routed to Luanda In Angola they were sent to the southern parts of the country, to Benguela and later to Nova Katengue. By 1979 nine camps had been established in Angola: there was a transit camp outside Luanda, and camps at Benguela, Nova Katengue, Gabela, Fazenda, Quibaxe, Pango, Camp 32 (Quatro) and Funda The main camp was Nova Katengue. The camp got the nickname ofUniversity ofthe South because of the emphasis there on ideological, political and academic courses. But one episode of attempted food poisoning and later the bombing by the South African Air Force focused attention on the need for internal security in the camps, and a Security Department took shape in the region. After the bombing which left Nova Katengue flattened to the ground, MK left their southern camps; a series ofmeetings took place in Luanda which resulted in a revised strategy outlined in "the Green Book". In 1979 MK participated in a second campaign together with ZAPU; as the attempt to reach South Africa was once again unsuccessful most of the participants found themselves back in the Angolan camps. This failure, together with the degrading conditions in which the cadres were living, fuelled a spiral of discontent in the camps. The food was sparse and the sanitary conditions were bad. A feeling of stagnation v spread among the cadres, who were disillusioned at the bleak prospect of infiltrating back into South Africa. In the beginning of the 1980's the roads between Luanda and the eastern camps around Malanje, Caculama and Camalundi became unsafe as the South African-backed UNITA guerrillas increased their attacks. MK forces were deployed around the town of Cacuso to guard the railway line and secure the safety of the road, and this deployment aggravated the dissatisfaction ofthe cadres. At the end of 1983 some members ofthe security department beat a sick cadre to death. This triggered off a mutiny in some ofthe camps. The leadership defused this, the first in a series of mutinies. In 1984 a second mutiny took place in Viana The mutineers elected a Committee of Ten to forward a set of demands to the leadership. But the leadership was not ready to listen and the Angolan presidential guard quelled the mutiny. When a third mutiny erupted in Pango three months later no demands were made and no committee was elected, but the Pango mutiny was more violent. After the disturbances at Viana but before the Pango mutiny, a commission had been sent out from Lusaka to find the reasons for the uprising. The commission found that the main reasons were the deteriorating living conditions, the lack of proper health services and the deployment on the eastern front. Later reports came to similar conclusions regarding the reasons for the mutiny. However, the reports differ regarding the degree of punishment used in the region after the mutinies. The Committee of Ten was imprisoned after the mutinies. However preparations were made to meet their main demand, which had been for the calling of a national consultative conference and in 1985 the Kabwe conference took place in Zambia. Some restructuring of the organisation and army took place and the much criticised Security VI Department was made accountable to the leadership. Life in the Angolan camps continued much as before but efforts were made to provide some vocational training and better health services. The deployment on the eastern front came to an end, but soon MK came under attack on the roads between Luanda and their northern camps. The attacks intensified as other forces in Angola gathered around the south central town of Cuito Cuanavale, and eventually the siege of Cuito Cuanavale forced the South African regime to the negotiating table. After the siege the Namibia Agreement was signed. One ofthe terms ofthe agreement was that MK had to leave Angola and search for new havens, and in 1989 and 1990 most ofthe cadres were flown to Uganda. VII Table of Contents Title Page Declaration I Acknowledgement 11 Dedication 111 Abstract IV Table ofContents viii Preface x Note on Sources xiii Chapter 1 A discourseon liberation 1 Partisan history? - Descriptive accounts, biographies and autobiographies 2 Academic analysis ofliberation movements 5 Conclusion 10 Chapter 2 A call to arms 12 Africa in the wake of independence 13 The first years in exile 17 National liberation movements ofSouthern Africa 21 Ideology and guerrilla warfare 24 The alliance with ZAPU and the Hwange campaign 26 Morogoro conference 30 The Lusaka Manifesto 34 FaH ofan empire 37 Segunda Guerra - the second war for Angola's independence 41 Conclusion 44 Chapter 3 The Dawning of a new era 46 ANC moves to Angola 49 Shelter for the children of Soweto 55 University ofthe South 57 Comrades, gender and race 61 The training 66 Relationship with the MPLA and the Cubans 70 Guerrillas or urban militants? 74 Black September - conceiving a security department 77 Meeting in Luanda 1978 77 Apartheid strikes back 81 The other armies 84 Conclusion 86 Vlll Chapter 4 Paradox of exile 89 A second ZAPU campaign 92 Life in exile 93 Politics ofsuspicion 100 Distress in exile 106 In defence ofsupplies 111 Discontent arise 119 Conclusion 123 Chapter 5 Makatashinga - the mutiny 126 Dangerous deployment 127 The Viana mutiny and the Committee of Ten 130 The Stuart Commission 133 The Pango mutiny 138 Discipline and punish 141 Punishing politics 146 The immediate political aftermath 147 Conclusion 149 Chapter 6 Towards liberation 152 Before and after the Kabwe conference 154 Change in the region after Kabwe 161 A new security department 165 The plot - vocational training 170 Military camps or civilian training facilities? 174 The northern front 178 The Namibia agreement 186 Move to Uganda 189 Conclusion 191 194 Conclusion 203 Bibliography IX Preface When I was 8 years old my family moved to Luanda, Angola. My mother had volunteered as a consultant to the Norwegian People's Aid, which at the time was looking into projects for the exiled South African and Namibian community in Angola. Through this work she became familiar with the ANC and MK personnel based in Luanda and Viana.