Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Northern Transvaal Rural Commander Cornered

On Monday, 15 January 1990, while Jacob Rapholo (aka “Thabo”) was standing outside a house in a village near Moria, in the northern Transvaal, a Combi stopped at a nearby shop, and he then walked up to it.

He then greeted the two people inside the vehicle, one of which was the owner of the shop and the house outside which he was standing, where he and Charles Seakamela (aka “Willie Mandisi”) were staying since they entered South Africa. The owner then greeted Rapholo back, as he handed over the keys to him, which Rapholo had requested. Rapholo then asked for Willie’s whereabouts, to which the man responded that he was at the house on Saturday.

After taking the keys, Rapholo went back to the house, and as he opened the door he found a number of apartheid policemen dressed in camouflage uniform waiting for him. When he tried to go back to the door, the policemen opened fire, hitting him on the leg, and as he fell, the policemen overpowered him.

The policemen then attempted to initiate an impromptu interrogation while he was apprehended. Rapholo refused to cooperate and demanded that they take him to hospital, where after he would be compliant. He was then taken to Pietersburg Provincial Hospital, where he later learnt that his comrade “Willie” was earlier shot dead by the apartheid police.

Rapholo and Willie had arrived on a property in the Nelspruit area on 11 December 1989, where they left a container that had two AK-47 assault rifles, ammunition and some hand grenades inside. Later on, on 24 December, they arrived in Johannesburg, where they spent a couple of days looking for African National Congress (ANC) members who might be able to assist them in accessing the arms cache they left in Nelspruit on 11 December.

Having failed to get any assistance, on 26 December they travelled back to the northern Transvaal. When they reached Zebediela, on their way back to their hideout near to Moria, Rapholo headed to a nearby motel, where he phoned Mozambique to request more money and a vehicle. When he struggled to get through, he tried to contact Lusaka without any success, thus leaving the two of them effectively without any internal or external support.

Previous to these challenges, on 7 August 1988, Rapholo was commander of a group of seven heavily armed Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadres who infiltrated South Africa from Botswana, where they made their through the Ellisras district and took a recess in the bush at a place called Beauty. They then established a temporary base on farm next to the Palala River, which is ten kilometres from Tom Burke, close to the Botswana border.

On 8 August 1988, at around 16:00, Rapholo was listening to a broadcast on a portable radio that the Botswana Presidential jet was struck by a missile in Angola while on its way to a summit in Luanda after the signing of the Geneva Protocol. As he was listening to the news, Rapholo heard a group of people talking and one voice saying in Afrikaans, “Hulle is hier! (They are here!)” He then ordered his men to shoot, and in the ensuing skirmish the guerrillas used hand grenades to neutralise the enemy fire. The apartheid security in turn tossed the grenades back at the MK Unit.

The confusion caused by the grenades on both sides brought the exchange of fire to an abrupt stop, as Rapholo ordered his men to cease fire. At that moment he discovered that one of his comrades, James Kgwatlha (aka “Benson”) had been killed, and the Unit’s Political Commissar, Mike Mokoena (aka “James”) had some injuries caused by shrapnel. On the apartheid security forces’ side there was also one casualty, Constable M.N. Claassen, who also lay dead.

Under the cover of darkness, the surviving guerrillas managed to escape to Botswana. Although Mokoena lost contact with the Unit, he ultimately managed to make his way back across the border. These incidents indicated how difficult it was becoming to infiltrate South Africa and the need to shift the command and control structures of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) into South Africa.

In the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo) Province, there were large tracts of tropical savannas and grass covered much of the plateau. Tropical savannas exposed guerrillas to both air and ground strikes. Challenges brought by the physical geography and how it was manipulated by both guerrillas and their enemies had radical consequences.

Conditions such as darkness, false light and adverse weather are the guerrilla fighter’s allies and should be used to their full advantage. Likewise, the terrain, whether be it bush, marsh, undulating savanna or desert dunes, are natural primary elements of the guerrillas’ environment and should be integrated in their tactics. Hence it follows that outstanding knowledge of the terrain is of the utmost importance.

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!