Battle of Mutale River – 28 March 1988
On 28 March 1988, nine Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Soldiers, aged between 19 and 21 years were surprised by heavy enemy fire from the apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) and the then Bantustan Venda Defence Force (VDF), in what came to be known as “The Battle of Mutale River”. The MK Unit was tasked with infiltrating the rural areas of the then Venda Bantustan homeland in the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), and they crossed from Zimbabwe into South Africa on 25 March 1988.
Looking for a place to rest, the unit took refuge on an island on the Mutale River. On the morning of 28 March 1988, while on a small island on the Mutale River, they were spotted by members of the Venda Defence Force (VDF), after being reported by residents of Ha-Mutele village who identified their tracks near the river. Following being spotted by members of the Venda Defence Force, a battle ensued that lasted the whole day between the “Bantu homeland VDF” and the nine person MK unit in the vicinity of Ha-Mutele village, near Tshikondeni mine. The VDF called for reinforcements from the apartheid SADF, and helicopter gunships were deployed which ended in the demise of five of the nine MK guerrillas.
When reinforcements were brought in, one of the guerrillas that survived the confrontation, James Sekgale, said that a helicopter gunship began circling and firing at them. They tried to shoot down the helicopter but were outgunned, even when they t
