MK Ex-Mutineers Resign from the ANC

On 31 December 1989, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) ex-mutineers considered the issue of resigning from the African National Congress (ANC). This followed a document issued on 28 December 1989, officially banning nine members from occupying any position in the ANC, which was circulated at Dakawa in Tanzania.

The decision to ban these members followed the announcement made during meetings held by MK Army Chief of Staff, Chris Hani, and Member of the ANC National Executive Committee, Stanley Mabizela, at Mazimbu and Dakawa on 24 December 1989. During the meetings, Mabizela revealed the ANC’s National Executive Committee’s (NEC) decision on the three groups of people previously detained by the organisation from either taking office or not in the organisation’s structures.

These three groups were: (a) self-confessed enemy agents who had been imprisoned and released unconditionally. This group was allowed to take part in and occupy positions in the ANC structures; (b) enemy agents who had been imprisoned and released conditionally. This group was not allowed to take office in the ANC structures; and (c) a group of 1984 mutineers who had been imprisoned by the ANC and forbidden from taking office in the organisation’s structures.

On 16 November 1988, exactly four years and nine months after the beginning of their imprisonment, the mutineers were summoned to the biggest cell in an Angolan MK Camp 32 (aka “Morris Seabelo Rehabilitation Centre” or colloquially as “Quatro”). There were about 25 of them in all, and they were required to sign documents committing them to keep the crimes of Quatro a secret. The ex-mutineers were then transported to Luanda and kept secretly in a storeroom to avoid contact with other MK cadres.

After two weeks they were secretly taken to the airport in Luanda and flown to Lusaka, where they were kept in the airport until late at night. The following morning they were transported in an ANC bus to the border between Zambia and Tanzania where, without documents, they were crossed into Tanzania to an ANC Development Centre at Dakawa, near Morogoro.

Dakawa was trapped in political apathy, with political structures and all the other structures whose membership was elected, were either functioning in semi-capacity or were completely dormant. When the ex-mutineers arrived in Dakawa, the political mood began to change, as they managed to show the people the need to participate and to demand to participate in all issues of the struggle. They themselves took part in all the labour processes of the Dakawa Development Project and showed a sense of keen interest in political matters.

When the ANC Secretary-General Alfred Nzo visited Dakawa shortly after their arrival, he commended their example and called on the community to emulate them. He also announced that the ex-detainees should be integrated into the community and be allowed to participate in all structures.

With the decision to revive the political structures, a general youth meeting was convened on 18 March 1989, and in the elections, a Zonal Youth Committee (ZYC) was elected into office, dominated by former detainees and other participants in the mutiny.

The rise in popularity of the Dakawa ZYC approached its climax in September 1989 when the Regional Political Committee (RPC) – a supreme body responsible for political guidance and organisation in different ANC regions – was elected into office in a meeting attended by delegates from all ANC Centres in Tanzania.

Sidwell Moroka (aka “Mhlongo”) was elected its chairperson and Mwezi Twala its organising secretary, both of whom were former members of the Committee of Ten elected by the mutineers at Viana in 1984.

Under instruction from the NEC, Chris Hani and Stanley Mabizela arrived in Tanzania from the HQ and called for ANC community meetings in Mazimbu, and on 24 December 1989, in Dakawa. At these meetings, Stanley Mabizela announced the decision of the NEC to dissolve the RPC and support for the appointed Interim RPC.

On 28 December 1989, the ANC Coordinator at Dakawa, Sidwell Khoza, began implementing the decision of the NEC by providing a letter insisting that one of the Ex-mutineers, Sipho Phungulwa (aka “Oscar Sizwe”), be removed from his position as Cultural Coordinator. The letter also mentioned the removal of eight others who were holding elected office in various structures.

Three days after being removed from their positions on Khoza’s instructions, the ex-mutineers, except for Sidwell Moroka (“Mhlongo”) and a few others, resigned from the ANC, which they claimed was to remove themselves from its jurisdiction, and accordingly avoid any possibilities for further arrests or death.

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!