Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Increased Infiltrations in 1979

On 27 December 1979, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Commander for southern Natal’s urban areas, Joseph Zakile Zulu, walked into Security Branch offices in Loop Street, Pietermaritzburg, to surrender himself. Zulu had infiltrated South Africa from Swaziland on 9 December 1979, and was deployed to be responsible for operations as Commander in the urban areas of southern Natal. On the same day that Zulu entered the country, Ikanyeng Molebatsi, Benjamin Tau and Fanie Mafoko entered South Africa from Swaziland as part of the Transvaal Urban Machinery. Prior to these infiltrations, on 5 December 1979, Ncimbithi Lubisi, Petrus Mashigo and Naphtali Manana also entered South Africa from Swaziland in the company of a man codenamed “Lungile”. Lubisi, Mashigo and Manana had met “Paul”, “Thabo” and “Kenny” of the Transvaal Rural Machinery in Maputo, Mozambique, on the first day of December 1979. The instruction they got from “Paul” was to attack Soekmekaar Police Station, since in that district people were facing forced removals to an arid area that they were not happy about. The local police station was instrumental in the forced removal, and the mission would be to stage an act of “armed propaganda” in the district. During the month of December 1979, these entries into the country were part of a series of infiltrations that MK launched through Swaziland. One of these infiltrations occurred on 21 December 1979, when Wilfred Madela and Humphrey Makhubo arrived i