Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Northern Transvaal Group of Five – Part 2

On 26 December 1987, Mncube and one of his comrades, “Peter”, decided to flee, while the helicopter machine gun fire pursued them. After the helicopter ceased the pursuit, Mncube informed Peter to run away while he ran the other way, so that one of them could get back to Zimbabwe. The pursuit by the Army unit continued for Mncube and Peter, and where the “spoor” began to split, the Unit decided to pursue one of them.

While Mncube was completely exhausted from the running, he decided to take cover and rest at a position about two kilometres from the large rocks, as he could not see any ground forces pursuing him. Unfortunately, he was mistaken, as the helicopter had picked up his trail and followed him.

At around 17:00, the ground forces caught up with him and he was ordered to take off all his clothes, except his underpants. He was then forced to march back to the initial contact point by the rocks, where he was handed over to the apartheid Army’s 902 Special Service Company Reaction Unit Commander, Major Oosthuizen.

Mncube was then blindfolded and led for a short distance, where the blindfold was removed to allow him to see the corpses of three of his Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) comrades. He was then asked to identify them and he did. At around 19:00, three men arrived in civilian clothes in a white bakkie, carrying pistols as they disembarked.

Mncube was blindfolded again and shoved into the white bakkie, knocking his head against the floor. The bodies of his three comrades were then thrown on top of him, and because of the heat, they were already decomposing, making it difficult for Mncube to breathe. After the bakkie was driven for a while, it was stopped, and Mncube was taken off into another one, while his hands were still bound and blindfolded.

The second bakkie that he was shoved into moved away quickly and at a certain stage it stopped. He was then taken off the bakkie and his blindfold was removed. According to his assessment, Mncube was deep in the bush, and he saw two white men in civilian clothes. Meanwhile, he also noticed that there was an AK-47 assault rifle at the back compartment of the bakkie.

Mncube was blindfolded and shoved into the bakkie again, as the vehicle began moving. After a short distance, and after struggling hard to remove the ropes binding his hands, he managed to untie his hand and remove his blindfold.

He then picked up the AK-47 rifle, and opened fire on the cabin of the bakkie, which immediately came to a standstill. During that moment, Mncube leaped off the bakkie and ran away, jumping a fence, and disappearing into the night. However, he did not know where he was running to.

On 27 December 1987, at around 06:30 in the morning, two farmers, John Rall and Mr Schneider, were travelling in a Toyota light delivery vehicle when they heard a banging on the roof. While they were still stunned as to what was going on, they saw through the back window farmworkers jumping off the vehicle. One of the farmworkers, a foreman tracker, who was still on top, pointed forward at something on the road ahead, which was a man lying on his stomach, next to a small donga, aiming a rifle in his direction.

Rall then shouted at Schneider to stop the vehicle, and before it came to a complete halt, he jumped off and lifted his hand, upon which the foreman tracker gave him his R1 rifle. He then ran with the R1 to the front of the bakkie and shot the man dead. The man was struggling to cock his rifle, as it was jammed; hence he failed to shoot at Rall.

The man, who was shot and killed by Rall, was “Peter”, who was the fifth member of the MK commandoes that were led by “Agrippa” on 24 December 1986, together with Mncube.

Meanwhile, on 3 January 1987, Mncube was arrested after being reported by the woman with two children, who failed to assist him when he asked for water.

During his trial, Mncube readily admitted that he was an African National Congress (ANC) soldier, and how he and four others had entered South Africa. The group was on a reconnaissance mission of apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) bases and patrol patterns in the border areas. Their mission had been aborted after a farmer spotted them and alerted the apartheid police and SADF.

Mncube told the court that their commander, who, with two other members of the group, was shot dead in an exchange of fire with the SADF, had ordered them not to return fire when the farmer opened fire on them as they did not want to kill or injure civilians. “We could have wiped them out if the commanding officer had ordered us to do so”, but instead the group had retreated, he said in evidence.

“Long Live the Revolutionary and Undying Spirit of the Cadres of the People’s Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe!”

Castro Khwela
Good evening fellow Compatriots!