The MJK Unit and the Arrest of the Special Operations Dutch Couple

The MJK Unit and the Arrest of the Special Operations Dutch Couple

On 29 June 1985, the media reported that Hélène Passtoors was arrested on the corner of Pritchard and Von Wielligh Streets in Johannesburg the previous day. Passtoors, had entered South Africa on 19 May 1983, driving a cream-coloured Colt Gallant that was used in the 20 May 1983 Pretoria Church Street bombing by Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Special Operations Unit. After delivering the Colt Gallant, Passtoors returned to Swaziland and then to Mozambique where she worked in the linguistics department of Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo.

On 6 and 11 June 1985, Passtoors was trying to help Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim to escape South Africa illegally through the Amsterdam/Nerston border area in the Eastern Transvaal in order to report to the Kabwe National Consultative Conference on his mission inside the country. However, this attempt, which was codenamed “Operation Mango”, was aborted. In 1984, the ANC decided to transfer Passtoors into South Africa to begin the groundwork for “Operation Mango”. Passtoors moved into an apartment in Yeoville, which was in the centre of Johannesburg, but the Security Police already knew about her movements and had rented an apartment directly opposite hers so that they could monitor her activities.

During that time, around 1983 and 1984, the Special Operations Unit was really facing difficult time in Swaziland and accordingly had to relocate to Botswana. Accordingly, Passtoors was deployed in Johannesburg, and had to take a post in the linguistics department at Wits University, where she could finish her PhD, to begin teaching at the institution and to begin doing the groundwork for “Operation Mango”.

This mission commenced on 3 January 1984, at a meeting in Swaziland, when Ivan Pillay informed Yunis Shaik that he had to surrender his Unit, which was considered to have matured to a certain level. The MJK Unit, the African National Congress (ANC) underground intelligence and counter-intelligence unit, was named after Mandla Judson Diza Khuzwayo (MJK), who assisted in arranging Mac Maharaj’s escape from South Africa in 1977. He subsequently became an ANC commander in Swaziland, and he died as ANC Chief Representative in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 1 May 1985.

The unit was under the internal command of Yunis Shaik, amongst others, and the external command of Jacob Zuma, Ivan Pillay and Joe Nhlanhla. The unit infiltrated the Apartheid security agencies and sourced reports held in their files which were analysed with the view to determining agents working within the ANC and the mass democratic movement. The reports were photographed and a summary made of its salient features which were entered into a computer data-base and thereafter transmitted to Lusaka via London, for further investigation. The unit remained in dynamic contact with Zuma who provided feedback in respect of investigations done by Lusaka, under “Project Bible”.

Project/Operation Bible became an ANC intelligence project involving the running of an Afrikaner agent, nicknamed the “Nightingale”. The agent was recruited in 1986 from within the apartheid Security Branch of the South African Police Force. It was led by Moe Shaik and in 1987 was endorsed by the leadership of the ANC in exile, including President Oliver Tambo and Jacob Zuma, who oversaw the project as Head of ANC Intelligence. According to Shaik, the project got its name from President Tambo, who had said of certain reports from the Nightingale that “I believe they are as true as the Bible”.

Going back to 3 January 1984, Ebrahim was from that point onwards going to take command of Yunis’s Unit, according to Pillay, and he wished them luck. After Pillay had left, Ebrahim engaged Yunis on what needed to be done, and that he was “going to be the first guinea pig”. With this Ebrahim meant that he was being sent into South Africa to test whether conditions were ripe for the infiltration at a later stage of large numbers of senior members of the Movement – a step the ANC had been contemplating since the late 1970s. He was to set up new communication channels and draft detailed reports on the scale and tempo of resistance towards apartheid, which were to provide a clear picture of developments on the ground. The MJK Unit, under Yunis Shaik, was instructed to take care of Ebrahim’s logistics and security.

On 23 January 1985, Ebrahim was taken to an area near the Nerston border post, where he was met by a peasant farmer, who provided support towards his efforts to cross the border into South Africa. The following day, Ebrahim entered South Africa from Swaziland in the vicinity of the Nerston border post, where on the other side Yunis and Shirish Soni, a businessman who was also part of the MJK Unit, were waiting in a car. After Yunis flashed the car lights from the forest, Ebrahim emerged from the bushes and entered the vehicle. Shirish then drove the car in the direction of Durban, while Ebrahim was disguising himself with a false beard and glasses, thus adopting the identity of “Salim Areff”. After arriving in Durban, Ebrahim stayed with Yunis’s father, Lambie Rasool, and was the following day taken to the Highpoint Flats, West Road, at Overport, in Durban, which was converted into Ebrahim’s residence.

While in Durban, Ebrahim relied on Phumla Williams as his contact in Swaziland. However, when Williams was herself infiltrated into the country, Hélène Passtoors became the communication contact with Maputo. Due to possibilities that her telephone lines were bugged, the option was to meet with her in Johannesburg. He then flew to Johannesburg from Durban, and Passtoors picked him up at the airport. During that time, the apartheid South African Defence Force’s (SADF) Directorate Military Intelligence operatives were monitoring her movements, and they photographed them together, without knowing who he was because of the disguise. They later established who he was through an agent in Swaziland, who was a highly placed cadre that confirmed his identity after being shown the photograph.

While in Johannesburg, Ebrahim gave Passtoors a report that she was supposed to send to Lusaka through Maputo, with additional verbal instructions. Moreover, Passtoors agreed to arrange money for the work that Ebrahim was supposed to do and his expenses in Durban. They then agreed to meet a month later in Durban, which they did in the parking lot at the Snake Park on the beachfront, as he had to give her another secret report for Swaziland. All this time, they were being watched by Military Intelligence officials, who later admitted that they did in order to have Ebrahim leading them to other underground operatives in the country.

On 17 June 1985, Hélène Passtoors arrived at Durban’s Louis Botha Airport on a flight from Johannesburg, where she met Ebrahim, and they both headed to the Blue Waters Hotel, where they began discussing “Operation Mango”, which was a plan, including maps, to smuggle Ebrahim out of the country illegally into Swaziland. Ebrahim also handed Passtoors a coded report that she had to send to “ANC Khumalo” (real name Ronnie Kasrils) when she returned to Johannesburg. At the Blue Waters Hotel, they had to discuss at the balcony and had the volume of the television set being turned high in order to avoid the Security Branch’s bugging devices. Passtoors had managed to get him some money and documents for the ANC’s Second National Consultative Conference in Kabwe, Zambia, which Ebrahim had to attend.

On 22 June 1985, apartheid Security Branch Detective Sergeant Pitout was on observation duty, monitoring the movements of Passtoors, when he saw her picking up a man, Klaas de Jonge, and driving him to a place in Halfway House. At that place, they both got out of the car and began looking around, and afterwards they left. At around 20:30 the same day, they returned to the same spot and took some time standing around a sand heap. At approximately 23:55, after they had left, Sergeant Pitout proceeded to the sand heap and found that it was in fact a well-camouflaged DLB (Dead Letter Box – an arms cache).

The following day, on 23 June 1985, while en route to Botswana, Klaas de Jonge was arrested and a two-page written route description and a one-page sketch showing how to flee South Africa illegally were found in a secret compartment of his car. Klaas de Jonge was the ex-husband of Hélène Passtoors, and they had been recruited by MK Chief of Staff, Joe Slovo, into the MK Special Operations Unit. Under the command of Joe Slovo and Aboobaker Ismail (aka “Rashid”), De Jonge and Passtoors had undertaken reconnaissance missions on military and economic targets in South Africa since December 1981 to May 1983. After their separation, Passtoors worked largely with Rashid in ensuring liaison between Maputo and Swaziland, while De Jonge was involved in ordnance operations, establishing DLBs (dead-letter boxes) inside South Africa.

After de Jonge’s arrest, on 26 June 1985, Ebrahim had a conversation with Yunis Shaik’s brother, Moe, that they were under surveillance, and the ANC had made a decision that he should escape. Accordingly, Shaik’s Unit was expected to serve as a decoy to enable him to escape. While, Hélène Passtoors was busy making arrangements for Ebrahim’s exfiltration to Swaziland, which included plans that the MJK Unit, Moe Shaik and Shirish Soni in particular, were to be responsible for driving him through to the Swaziland border. Passtoors was to meet Ebrahim at the Ermelo Inn to provide him with further instructions, and another comrade was assigned to pick him up at the T-junction close to the border post. A can of Coca-Cola under the road sign was to be used as a signal that the contact was in the vicinity of the border post.

Passtoors undertook the reconnaissance mission on the said afternoon, as well as an hour before Ebrahim could go through the border. However, just before they could attempt the process, Passtoors began having doubts about exercise, since she had noticed some suspicious movements close to the border post. Nevertheless, since Ebrahim was feeling under pressure to leave the country, he insisted that they should proceed. While Moe was driving, Ebrahim was praying for the mission to be successful, since many lives depended on his safe and successful exfiltration.

When they were close to the border post, they noticed some lights that indicated that there was a military roadblock, and it was at that time impossible to make a U-turn. They then went ahead and engaged with the soldier in charge, pretending to be lost, as they were trying to find the Ermelo Inn. The solider gave them directions after taking all their details, including the vehicle registration numbers. As they were driving off, Moe noticed that two cars were following them, and they had to swiftly drive to the Ermelo Inn, where Ebrahim managed to briefly engage with Hélène Passtoors, and instructed her and her daughter to leave the place. They then had no choice but to drive back to Durban.

When they arrived in Durban it was obvious that the Security Branch had managed to locate his place of residence in Overport, and Yunis made arrangements with Pravin Gordhan of the Housing Action Committee to get Ebrahim out of the country. Since the ANC leadership in Maputo had insisted that Ebrahim should not be arrested, they had to collect his items from Overport and took him to the Roadside Hotel, near to the Umngeni River, close to the Blue Lagoon Beach. He was told to stay put, until Thiruth Maistry, a member of Pravin’s Unit, had to pick him up an hour later. Ebrahim was then taken to a house in Reservoir Hills, where he was hidden in a room in the basement for several months. During that time, after a few weeks, Thiruth informed him that Moe, Yunis, Chippy, their father Lambie and Shirish had been arrested under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act of 1982.

Meanwhile, Hélène Passtoors was arrested on 28 June 1985, five days after Klaas de Jonge’s arrest. Pravin managed to make contact with the ANC Headquarters in Lusaka to develop a plan for Ebrahim’s exfiltration. On his day of leaving, he was picked up by a comrade and his wife, and they had to make security plan for the whole trip to the Swaziland border. After having made it through the crossing area, Ebrahim was met by Totsie Memela, who drove him to Manzini. Totsie was largely responsible for infiltration and exfiltration of many comrades in the underground, and had operated in Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Angola. She was also an expert at managing DLBs (dead-letter boxes) that were located throughout the border areas.

Sources:
South African History Online (SAHO).
Hugh Macmillan, “The Lusaka Years: The ANC in Exile in Zambia, 1963 – 1994”, Jacana, 2013.
Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren, “The Devil in the Detail: How the Arms Deal Changed Everything”, Jonathan Ball, 2011.
Moe Shaik, “The ANC Spy Bible: Surviving Across Enemy Lines”, Tafelberg, 2020.
Hélène Marinis Passtoors, “Words and Blasts”, in Ronnie Kasrils, Muff Anderson and Oscar Marleyn (Eds.), “International Brigade Against Apartheid: Secrets of the People’s War that Liberated South Africa”, Jacana, 2021.
Klaas de Jonge, “The Daring Escape of Damn F**king Foreign Terrorist”, in Ronnie Kasrils, Muff Anderson and Oscar Marleyn (Eds.), “International Brigade Against Apartheid: Secrets of the People’s War that Liberated South Africa”, Jacana, 2021.
Ebrahim Ebrahim, “Beyond Fear: Reflections of a Freedom Fighter”, Jacana, 2022.
Thula Simpson, “Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle”, Penguin, 2016.
Stephen Ellis, “External Mission: The ANC in Exile”, Jonathan Ball, 2012.

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