Landmine Warfare in the Northern Transvaal
On the morning of 26 November 1985, at approximately 08:20, an employee of Petermix, a cement delivery company, Elijah Mokgamatha heard a huge blow behind the Nissan diesel truck he was driving, while making a U-turn, after missing a turn off to his destination. Following the blow, the truck got into a shock, which forced Mokgamatha to get off and check what had happened. He then realised that the truck and the semi-trailer that was attached to it were seriously damaged by an explosion, which later on was confirmed to have detonated a landmine.
About half-an-hour later, Gert de Villiers heard a tremendous thud while he was driving a Toyota bakkie eastwards along the “sisal fence road”, which ran parallel to the South African-Zimbabwe border, with his dog on board. When he climbed out of the bakkie, he saw that the rear part of the vehicle had been thrown close to thirty metres into the bush. When an investigation was conducted on the incident, it was established that the vehicle was hit by a landmine.
Three days before these incidences, on 23 November 1985, Mzondeleli Nondula and Jabulani Mbuli were part of a group of twelve Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadres who were briefed by Julius Maliba (aka “Mancheck”) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on recalibrating rural guerrilla warfare. “Mancheck”, the former Commander of the Sibasa Group of the Luthuli Detachment in the Wankie Campaign, was at the time chairperson of the African N
