The Assassination of Theophilus “Viva” Dlodlo

The Assassination of Theophilus “Viva” Dlodlo

On 22 May 1987, after a brief appearance at a party in the Thembelihle location of Mbabane, Swaziland, Theophilus Sidima Dlodlo, (aka “Viva Zenge”), got into the driver’s seat of a cream-coloured Ford Laser and departed into town. With him in the passenger seat was Mildred Msomi, and at the back were Thulani Vincent Tutu Nkwanyane, Lungile Zwane, Candy Ntshontsho and “Shezi”.

When the car reached Dalriach South suburb, at approximately 23:00, approaching the bottom of a hill, they noticed another car approaching from behind, with its lights on full beam. As the Laser began to slow down to negotiate a curve, the other vehicle, which was a dark bakkie, moved to overtake, with the side door wide open. At that moment, Dlodlo heard a voice, which he recognised as that of a Comrade, saying “Viva, Viva, stop, what are you doing, we need to talk to you, there is something very urgent I need to tell you!”

When the bakkie began to break, the occupants of the other vehicle emerged from the bakkie, brandishing firearms. They began firing with their weapons that were fitted with silencers, injuring Lungile Zwane’s face, while Theophilus Dlodlo, Tutu Nkwanyane and Mildred Msomi lay dead in the Ford Laser. Shezi, who was with them in the vehicle, was later to brief Dlodlo’s wife, Felicia, about what happened that night.

This incident followed a conversation between Viva, who was part of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Transvaal Urban Machinery, with his wife, Felicia, on 21 May 1987, in which he indicated the he had information from various sources that “Comrade September” (real name Glory Sedibe), who was abducted by the apartheid Security Forces in August 1986 at Mankayane Police Station, was just seen in a certain hotel in Swaziland. He then told his wife that he believed she could identify him. He requested her to accompany him in his car to a hotel close to the Swaziland’s Houses of Parliament. Viva then proposed that Felicia should go inside and see if she could identify him.

Inside the pool room she spotted September playing pool in the company of ten or so white men who were speaking in distinctly South African accents. As she was quickly leaving the room, she met another female MK Comrade by the name of Maniki, who gave her an expression of fright. She then went back to the car and when the couple was about to leave, Maniki approached the car and said, “Hey you guys, do you know that September is in there playing snooker with the Boers?” They then left, and in the car Viva remarked that “These people have come to kill us. I know that”.

Glory Sedibe (aka “Comrade September”) was head of African National Congress (ANC) MK Military Intelligence for the MK Transvaal Rural Machinery operating between Swaziland and Mozambique when he was abducted by the apartheid security forces. He had been appointed into this position in July 1984, during his time at the MK Military Headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, as part of a small group of MK Operatives that had been sent to Moscow for specialised training.

September was part of the MK June 16 Detachment, trained in Novo Catengue, Angola, in June 1977, and in Teterow, East Germany (German Democratic Republic – GDR) in 1978. After his abduction, Sedibe became an “Askari”, a specialist in the apartheid Security Branch and the South African Defence Force (SADF) Military Intelligence, identifying and confirming captured MK Operatives.

According to analysis, Theophilus Sidima Dlodlo, was earmarked for assassination by the apartheid security forces because he had been recently appointed as Chief of MK Military Operations in Swaziland. Mainly, he was suspected of being the Mastermind behind the Volkswagen Golf car bomb that occurred near the junction of Fox and Main Streets, in central Johannesburg, on 20 May 1987. The operation was well coordinated, as a limpet mine exploded next to the car, and when the police cordoned off the area and moved towards the scene of the explosion, the car bomb was activated with a remote-controlled device, killing four policemen and wounding several more.

Three police officers were identified in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as being behind Theophilus “Viva” Dlodlo’s assassination. They included Eugene de Kock, Lappies Labuschagne and Johan Botha, and members of the Eastern Transvaal Security Branch in Mbabane, Swaziland with the late Glory Sedibe or Comrade September, who had died in March 1994 due to poisoning, as the one who helped in identifying the victim.

Sources:
Times Correspondent, “’Five gunned three dead’ and ‘Night of terror’”, The Times of Swaziland, 25 May 1987.
Observer Reporter, “Three Die in Cold Blood”, Swaziland Observer, 25 May 1987.
Reporter, “Southern Africa’s Secret War: ANC Guerrilla Leaders Slain by Hit Squads”, The Southern African Times, 19 July 1987.
Thula Simpson, “Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle”, Penguin, 2016.
Jacob Dlamini, “Askari: A Story of Collaboration and Betrayal in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle”, Jacana, 2014.

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!