Operation Vula Exposed – Part 2
On 29 July 1990, after African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela had studied the documents that he received from the leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Joe Slovo, he believed that he had enough ammunition to launch a fight-back against the attacks waged by the racist regime relating to “Operation Vula”. This began the day before, on 28 July, when he briefed foreign ambassadors to South Africa on Joe Slovo continuing to take part in the talks with the apartheid government “whether De Klerk liked it or not”. Mandela further accused the apartheid security forces of trying to drive a wedge between the ANC and the Communist Party.
The reason for the apartheid government objecting to Joe Slovo’s further participation in the talks was related to the events that began on 7 July 1990, wherein two Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives, Charles Ndaba and Mbuso Tshabalala, were arrested, which led to 12 July 1990, with the arrest of Siphiwe Nyanda (aka “Gebhuza”) and Raymond Lalla (aka “Brazzo”) in Durban’s Kenville suburb, as well as the events of 25 July 1990 in Johannesburg, in which Mac Maharaj was apprehended.
On Wednesday, 25 July 1990, Mac Maharaj left the ANC office in Sauer Street to Mohammed Valli Moosa’s house in Mayfair, Johannesburg. When he pulled up in front of Valli Moosa’s house, policemen pounced on him and had him arrested. The policemen then pulled out a document from him, which was
