Natal Urban Machinery Ordnance Chief: Krishna “Goodwin” Rabilal

Towards the end of 1980, the apartheid South African security forces devised a plan (codenamed “Operation Beanbag”) for a simultaneous attack on African National Congress (ANC) properties in Swaziland and Mozambique. The attack on Swaziland was charged to the security police, while the attacks on Mozambique were allotted to the SADF Special Forces. During the midnight of 30 January 1981, the apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) Special Operations Group, consisting largely of former Rhodesian Selous Scouts, attacked three houses belonging to the ANC in Matola, west of Maputo, in Mozambique, disguised as FRELIMO soldiers.

The first house that was under attack was the residence of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Special Operations Unit at which a shootout took place resulting in several casualties and wounded personnel on both sides. The second residence to be attacked was one belonging to the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), which was hit with rocket launchers, resulting in William Khanyile (a protégé of Harry Gwala in the Natal trade union and underground movement) lying dead after being killed by a rocket that was fired through the wall of the bedroom in which he was sleeping.

In the third property, which was used by the MK Natal Urban Machinery, Mduduzi Guma (aka “Nkululeko”) and Lancelot Hadebe (aka “Sobantu”) were killed instantly when an upstairs bedroom was struck by a rocket. Another MK Cadre, Krishna Rabilal (aka “Goodwin”), staggered from the room badly wounded, only to be mowed down at close range by the attackers. Rabilal was assigned to MK’s Natal Urban Command and was stationed in Swaziland, under the command of Mduduzi Guma, where he was tasked with receiving and facilitating the return of cadres, and also to facilitate ordnance support, primarily to provide the supply of military hardware and accessories.

Krishna Rabilal was born on 6 November 1952 to working class parents of Indian descent in the township of Merebank, south of Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). He had nine siblings, being the third oldest, where he also did his primary and secondary schooling. He completed his matric at the Merebank High School, obtaining exceptional results in mathematics. Rabilal worked as a clerk for Roberts Construction at its building site at the Shell oil refinery at Prospection, south of Durban, where he joined Ivan Pillay. He later on worked at Dayglo Stationers with Sunny Singh, who had been a prisoner on Robben Island for ten years. His last job was at a second hand-furniture dealer, Bargain Furniture in Beatrice Street, which was managed by Joe Pillay. It was during this time when he got involved in political campaigns, community projects and many civil society organisations, and particularly the Natal Indian Congress.

Krish Rabilal, Joe Pillay, Pat Msomi and Ivan Pillay were recruited into the vigorous ANC underground structures in Natal by Sunny Singh in the early 1970s, while they were already preparing themselves for a clandestine struggle. They rented a house in Sambalpur Road, in Durban, where they stored banned publications including tracts on guerrilla warfare. One of their comrades, Roy Chetty, became the national organiser of the Black People’s Convention. Following a crackdown on Black Consciousness Organisations that were involved in organising the PRO-FRELIMO Rallies, rallies that were meant to celebrate the successful entry of Frelimo into the echelons of power in Mozambique, Roy had to leave the country into exile in Botswana.

After the arrest of the late Shadrack Maphumulo, who was released a few years earlier from Robben Island, during the course of 1977, Joe Pillay and Pat Msomi left for Swaziland, anticipating their own arrests. A few weeks later, Ivan Pillay and Rabilal left the country, crossing the border fence into Botswana. MK identified Rabilal as a potential combatant to return to South Africa, and accordingly he was sent to a transit house in Luanda, Angola. These transit facilities were used to house cadres returning home after crash courses in political theory and military and combat training.

He was then sent to Funda, a transit camp in Caxito (Northern Angola), where he underwent basic military training. At Funda, he was selected to be part of a platoon that was sent to the Ernest Thaelmann Academy in Rostock, in the erstwhile German Democratic Republic (GDR aka East Germany). His proficiency in mathematics came in handy as he trained in firearms, explosives and artillery end excelled in topography. He used his skills to draw maps for DLBs (dead letter boxes) that assisted cadres to locate hidden arms caches. After completing his training in the GDR, he was deployed to the Natal Urban Military Machinery, which was commanded by Mduduzi Guma, where he had to travel regularly between Swaziland and Maputo, ferrying cadres and weapons destined for South Africa.

Sunny Singh, the MK Commander who recruited Rabilal into the ANC and MK, who was also stationed in Mozambique for close to ten years, mentioned that during the attack at the MK Natal Urban Machinery residence in Matola, a wall that was hit by a rocket collapsed on Rabilal, while he was sleeping on a mat on the floor. He managed to crawl to the bathroom, while he was bleeding from that injury, but the racist forces found him and shot him in the face at point-black-range.

According to his close friend and comrade, Ivan Pillay, former MK Commander and Coordinator of MK’s Operation Vula, “Krishna was a quiet even-tempered person. Unassuming, and friendly, he was always approachable and easy to relate to. He did not speak much; but was always clear about the need to fight the injustice we saw all around us. He preferred to work in the background, rather than be in the limelight. Krishna rejected the apartheid system, overcame the prevalent fear of detention, torture and death. He chose to join the struggle for freedom and later joined the main liberation movement-the ANC.”

Hamba kahle Nyamazane! You lived up to the maxim: “Always work hard, never give up, and fight until the end because it’s never really over until the whistle blows.” – Alex Morgan

Castro Khwela
Good evening fellow Compatriots!