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
I need to know more of the skirmishes and operations that took place along the Limpopo, especially from Pont Dift in the west to Beit Bridge in the east.
Informative insights