A Leap in the Dark: The Disappearance of Flag Boshielo, Castro Dolo, Victor Ndaba and Bob Zulu in August 1970

Abstract

In August 1970, four senior African National Congress members – Flag Boshielo, Castro Dolo, Victor Ndaba and Bob Zulu – vanished during their clandestine return to South Africa from exile in Zambia. It was thought that they had met a tragic end while crossing the Zambezi River into the Eastern Caprivi of South West Africa (now the Zambezi Region of Namibia). After 1994, renewed attempts to establish the men’s fate were hampered by a paucity of archival data, the unwillingness of witnesses to provide information and the passage of time. Recent research in the Eastern Caprivi brought new information to light when local communities were found to be familiar with a story about ‘foreign fighters’ who crossed the Zambezi River. The strangers were betrayed to the South African police and drawn into an ambush. Research in the National Archives of Namibia also yielded new information. By piecing together local narratives with archival material and interviews with former members of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the South African Police, this article chronicles the odyssey and fate of Boshielo and his companions, although some questions remain. Unfortunately, in South Africa, the search for those who disappeared during the struggle against white minority rule is by no means complete. This article demonstrates the value of extending research beyond South African borders when information and knowledge are scattered across countries, institutions, communities and individuals.

Keywords:

• ANC
• South Africa
• Umkhonto we Sizwe
• Flag Mokgomane Boshielo
• Castro Dolo
• Victor Ndaba
• Bob Zulu
• Eastern Caprivi
• Zambezi Region
• South West Africa
• Namibia

Acknowledgements

This article is dedicated to the memory of Professor Stephen Ellis who first alerted me to the disappearance of Flag Boshielo and his companions. I would like to thank Benjamin Chika-Matondo Mabuku of the Zambezi Region, Namibia, for his invaluable support and contribution to the research for this article.

Notes

1 South West Africa was a United Nations (UN) mandated territory under South African rule until independence in 1990, when it became the Republic of Namibia. At that time the Eastern Caprivi was renamed as the Caprivi Region, and in 2013 as the Zambezi Region. The region is located at the eastern-most end of a strip of land historically known as the Caprivi Zipfel, which separates Zambia in the north from Botswana in the south. This article uses the official names in use at the time of the events described: for example, South West Africa, Eastern Caprivi, Rhodesia.

2 While conducting fieldwork on another project in Namibia, I used the opportunity to enquire about the disappearance of Boshielo and his men. Benjamin Chika-Matondo Mabuku was the first to affirm that local residents were familiar with such an event. He spoke of freedom fighters who had been betrayed and ambushed near his family’s village in the Eastern Caprivi, and said: ‘I do not have the facts. But this incident happened. The place is known, and people will be able to locate it’. Interview, Benjamin Chika-Matondo Mabuku, Windhoek, 24 April 2014. Unless otherwise stated, all interviews were conducted by the author.

3 A. Lissoni, ‘Transformations in the ANC External Mission and Umkhonto we Sizwe, c. 1960–1969’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 35, 2 (2009), p. 293.

4 J.D. Aronson, ‘The Strengths and Limitations of South Africa’s Search for Apartheid-Era Missing Persons’, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 5, 2 (2011), p. 264.

5 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (hereafter TRC), Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Volume 6 (2003), pp. 532–6. Also see N. Rousseau, ‘Identification, Politics, Disciplines: Missing Persons and Colonial Skeletons in South Africa’, in É. Anstett and J.M. Dreyfus (eds), Human Remains and Identification: Mass Violence, Genocide and the ‘Forensic Turn’ (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2015), p. 188.

6 F. Mbali, In Transit: Autobiography of a South African Freedom Fighter (Cape Town, Xlibris Pub., 2011), p. 130; R. Kasrils, ‘Kasrils, Ronnie [Third Interview]’, interview by H. Barrell, Johannesburg, 28 October 1990, (hereafter Kasrils, ‘Third Interview’), O’Malley archive, available at https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv00000.htm, retrieved 5 March 2024; ‘The Thinker Puts Questions to Ronnie Kasrils on the Role, Function and Achievements of Umkhonto we Sizwe’, The Thinker, 52 (2013), p. 20; H. Barrell, ‘Conscripts to Their Age: African National Congress Operational Strategy, 1976–1986’ (PhD thesis, Oxford University, 1993), p. 68; P. Delius, A Lion amongst the Cattle: Reconstruction and Resistance in the Northern Transvaal (Portsmouth, Heinemann, 1996), p. 177.

7 Oliver Tambo during a speech at University of Lagos in Nigeria, 1971, quoted in V. Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow (Bellville, Mayibuye Books, 1999), p. 101. Also see G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The ANC’s Armed Struggle in the 1970s’, in South African Democracy Education Trust (hereafter SADET) (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 2 (1970–1980) (Pretoria, UNISA Press, 2006), p. 454; ‘ANC (SA) Splits. White-Led SACP Distorts National Question, Created Division’, Ikwezi, 2, 1 (March 1976), p. 29; H. Macmillan, ‘The African National Congress of South Africa in Zambia: The Culture of Exile and the Changing Relationship with Home, 1964–1990’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 35, 2 (2009), p. 314; S. Ellis, External Mission: The ANC in Exile, 1960–1990 (London, C. Hurst & Co, 2012), pp. 85–6; T. Simpson, Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle (Cape Town, Penguin Books, 2016), p. 175.

8 T. Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 (New York, Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd, 1983), p. 302; S. Ellis and T. Sechaba, Comrades against Apartheid: The ANC & the South African Communist Party in Exile (London, J. Currey, 1992), p. 59; A. Sibeko and J. Leeson, ‘Faldon (Castro) Mzwonke’, in Archie Sibeko’s Roll of Honour: Western Cape ANC Comrades 1953–1963 (Bellville, University of the Western Cape, Diana Ferrus Publishers, 2008); T. Gibbs, Mandela’s Kinsmen: Nationalist Elites and Apartheid’s First Bantustan (Johannesburg, Jacana Media, 2014), p. 179; G. Houston, S. Mati, D. Seabe, J. Peires, D. Webb, S. Dumisa, K. Sausi, B. Mbenga, A. Manson & N. Pophiwa, ‘The Liberation Struggle and Liberation Heritage Sites in South Africa (Prepared for the National Heritage Council)’ (Human Sciences Research Council), 25 November 2013), p. 234; S. Sijake, ‘Moses Kotane Memorial Lecture’ (Limpopo, ANC Veterans League, 12 April 2019); K. Morewane, ‘Nchabeleng Remembered. A Combatant for Life, a Patriot to the End’, The Thinker, 53 (2013), p. 57.

9 The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa, ‘National Orders Booklet’, 2005, p. 17; copy of the document held by the author.

10 In the documents and literature, the men are referred to by various names. These include family names, titles, noms de guerre and nicknames. In addition, there are multiple spellings of their names. The names listed here are used throughout the article. Discrepancies are explained in a footnote where necessary. Note: in documents and statements by the South African state and its officials, the men are referred to as terrorists, as were all members of the ANC since in the early 1960s, when the South African authorities designated the ANC as a terrorist organisation. By contrast, in his opening statement at the Rivonia trial, Nelson Mandela stated that ‘the violence which we chose to adopt was not terrorism’ (Pretoria Supreme Court, 20 April 1964), available at https://www.un.org/fr/events/mandeladay/court_statement_1964.shtml, retrieved 11 March 2024.

11 L. Douglas, ‘Mass Graves Gone Missing: Producing Knowledge in a World of Absence’, Culture & History Digital Journal, 3, 2 (2014), p. 9; N. Nieftagodien, ‘The Place of “The Local” in History Workshop’s Local History’, African Studies, 69, 1 (2010), pp. 41–2. For South African researchers who engaged with local knowledge in the search for missing persons, see: M. Fullard, ‘Some Trace Remains (An Extract)’, Kronos, 44, 1 (2018), pp. 163–80; R. Mendes, ‘The Everyday Life and the Missing: Silences, Heroic Narratives and Exhumations’ (MA thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2020); R. Moosage, ‘Missing-Ness, History and Apartheid-Era Disappearances: The Figuring of Siphiwo Mthimkulu, Tobekile “Topsy” Madaka and Sizwe Kondile as Missing Dead Persons’ (PhD thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2018).

12 The story was known most notably in the villages of Nakabolelwa, Ivilivinzi and Ihaha in the Zambezi Region of Namibia.

13 M. Halbwachs, On Collective Memory (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 23; Douglas, ‘Mass Graves gone Missing’, p. 3.

14 The SAP-S members agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity. Their names and the place and time of the interviews are therefore withheld.

15 T. Keenan, ‘Getting the Dead to Tell Me What Happened: Justice, Prosopopoeia, and Forensic Afterlives’, Kronos, 44, 1 (2018), p. 102.

16 For a more detailed history of Boshielo’s life, see Delius, A Lion amongst the Cattle.

17 N. Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (Boston, Bay Back Books, 1995), p. 122.

18 P. Delius, ‘Sebatakgomo; Migrant Organization, the ANC and the Sekhukhuneland Revolt’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 15, 4 (1989), pp. 605–7.

19 B. Magubane, P. Bonner, J. Sithole, P. Delius, J. Cherry, P. Gibbs & T. April, ‘The Turn to Armed Struggle’, in SADET (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 1 (1960–1970) (Cape Town, Zebra Press, 2004), p. 76; Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow, pp. 43–4.

20 L. Callinicos, Oliver Tambo: Beyond the Engeli Mountains (Claremont, David Philip, 2004), p. 366.

21 Ellis, External Mission, pp. 77–8.

22 Informal discussion with author, Pallo Jordan, James April and Zolile Nqosi, Cape Town, 9 July 2017; interview, Mavuso Walter Msimang, Zoom video call, 7 September 2021; Kasrils, ‘Third Interview’.

23 A. Lissoni, ‘The South African Liberation Movements in Exile, c.1945–1970’ (PhD thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2008), pp. 260–1; H. Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro: The Continuing Crisis in the African National Congress (of South Africa) in Zambia, 1969–1971’, Social Dynamics, 35, 2 (2009), pp. 300–1.

24 Delius, ‘Sebatakgomo’, pp. 602–3.

25 The Terroriste Album was created in the early 1960s as a record of individuals who had left for exile, or were deemed to be opposed to apartheid. J. Dlamini, The Terrorist Album: Apartheid’s Insurgents, Collaborators, and the Security Police (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2020). Castro Dolo appears on p. 114, Victor Ndaba on p. 82 and Bob Zulu on p. 117; see SAP Veiligheidsverslag, S.4/10746, 1 April 1974; copy of the document held by the author.

26 Mbali, In Transit, p. 128. In the Wankie and Sipolilo campaigns of 1967 and 1968, the ANC sent trained MK soldiers from Zambia through Rhodesia to infiltrate South Africa.

27 Issued on 25 July 2012, on the occasion marking the 50th anniversary of the formation of MK.

28 Mbali, In Transit, p. 129.

29 J. Slovo, ‘The Second Stage: Attempts to Get Back’, Dawn, 10, Souvenir Issue (1986), p. 33; C. Hani, ‘The Wankie Campaign’, Dawn, 10, Souvenir Issue (1986), pp. 34–5.

30 G. Houston, ‘Oliver Tambo and the Challenges of the ANC’s Military Camp’, The Thinker, 58 (2013), p. 21; Lissoni, ‘Transformations in the ANC’, pp. 297–9. For more on general conditions at Kongwa camp, see C.A. Williams, ‘Living in Exile: Daily Life and International Relations at SWAPO’s Kongwa Camp’, Kronos, 37 (2011), pp. 60–86.

31 C.J. Makgala and B. Seabo, ‘“Very Brave or Very Foolish”? “Gallant Little” Botswana’s Defiance of “Apartheid’s Golden Age”, 1966–1980’, Round Table, 106, 3 (May 2017), p. 305.

32 P. Mgadla, ‘“A Good Measure of Sacrifice”: Botswana and the Liberation Struggles of Southern Africa (1965–1985)’, Social Dynamics, 34, 1 (2008), pp. 5–7; B. Mocheregwa, ‘The Police Mobile Unit. The Nucleus of the Botswana Defence Force, 1960s–1977’, Journal of African Military History, 3, 2 (December 2019), p. 106.

33 D. Dabengwa, ‘The 1967 Wankie and 1968 Sipolilo Campaigns’, The Thinker, 80 (2019), p. 10.

34 R.M. Ralinala, J. Sithole, G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The Wankie and Sipolilo Campaigns’, in SADET (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 1 (1960–1970) (Cape Town, Zebra Press, 2004), pp. 479–540; Hani, ‘The Wankie Campaign’, p. 35; Dabengwa, ‘The 1967 Wankie and 1968 Sipolilo Campaigns’, p. 9.

35 ‘Our Fight Is against Apartheid, Not Botswana’, Sechaba, 2, 2 (1968), p. 15; Hani, ‘The Wankie Campaign’, p. 37; Ralinala et al., ‘The Wankie and Sipolilo Campaigns’, pp. 529–31.

36 H. Macmillan, ‘The “Hani Memorandum” – Introduced and Annotated’, Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 69 (2009), pp. 107–8; N. Ndebele and N. Nieftagodien, ‘The Morogoro Conference: A Moment of Self-Reflection’, in SADET (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 1 (1960–1970) (Cape Town, Zebra Press, 2004), p. 587.

37 Macmillan, ‘The “Hani Memorandum”‘, p. 115. In 1963 a number of ANC leaders were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in the Rivonia suburb of Johannesburg. During the subsequent trial many of them, including Nelson Mandela who had been arrested earlier, received life sentences. Most of the remaining ANC leadership fled the country, leaving no leaders to direct the domestic struggle.

38 Ibid., p. 119. Bob Zulu, one of Boshielo’s three companions, was named as a victim of the ANC’s cruel punishments. I was not able to establish the reason for his detainment, nor whether this had any bearing on his decision to join Boshielo’s mission. Regarding atrocities committed by MK, as claimed in The Hani Memorandum, in 1998 the TRC reported that both the ANC and PAC and their organs – including MK, committed gross violations of human rights in the course of their political activities and armed struggles; TRC Report, Volume 2 (1998), p. 325.

39 Fanele Mbali, informal discussion with author, Johannesburg, 21 June 2017.

40 Ellis, External Mission, p. 65.

41 Ralinala et al., ‘The Wankie and Sipolilo Campaigns’, pp. 537–8.

42 Available at http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/fanele-mbali, retrieved 29 April 2017; Ndebele and Nieftagodien, ‘The Morogoro Conference’, p. 589.

43 Report of the Subcommittee, July 1966, 24 August 1966, ANC Morogoro Papers, ANC Archives, UFH, p. 5; Ellis and Sechaba, Comrades against Apartheid, p. 55; Ndebele and Nieftagodien, ‘The Morogoro Conference’, p. 583.

44 In his speech at the ANC National Consultative Conference (June 1985), Oliver Tambo said, ‘[m]any who participated to ensure that the Morogoro conference was the success that it was, are no longer with us. I refer to such outstanding leaders, stalwarts and activists of our movement as … Flag Mokgomane Boshielo … and others’. ‘The Eyes of Our People Are Focussed on This Conference’, Sechaba, October 1985, p. 4.

45 Ellis, External Mission, pp. 77–8; Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow, pp. 91–2; Simpson, Umkhonto we Sizwe, pp. 171–4.

46 Ellis, External Mission, pp. 83–4; V. Shubin and M. Traikova, ‘There Is No Threat from the Eastern Bloc’, in SADET (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 3: International Solidarity (Pretoria, UNISA Press, 2008), p. 1006. For further discussion of reasons for the expulsion see S.M. Ndlovu, ‘The ANC’s Diplomacy and International Relations’, in SADET (eds), The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 2 (1970–1980) (Pretoria, UNISA Press, 2006), p. 566.

47 Ellis, External Mission, pp. 83–4; Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, pp. 298–301.

48 South African National Defence Force, Department of Documentation, Pretoria (hereafter SANDF DoD), OD 1968 Aanv Dok Box 16, ‘Terroristebedreiging teen Suider Afrika’ (1960–1967), pp. 10–18, 21–3.

49 SWALA was SWAPO’s military wing. The name was changed to People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) at the Tanga conference held by SWAPO from 26 December 1969 to 2 January 1970.

50 Interview, former SAP-S member, 2012.

51 SANDF DoD, HVS Group 1 Box 31, ‘Die Militêr-Strategiese Waarde van die Caprivistrook’ (1966–1969), p. 6; SANDF DoD, Diverse Group 2 Box 28, ‘Oorsig van die Onkonvensionele Bedreiging teen Suid–Afrika’ (31 October 1967), pp. 14–15; SANDF DoD, HSI/AMI Group 3 Box 430, ‘Die Caprivistrook’ (1967), p. 13.

52 TIN was the acronym for Teeninsurgensie or counter-insurgency. M. de W. Dippenaar, The History of the South African Police 1913–1988 (Silverton, South Africa, Promedia Publications, 1988), p. 365.

53 Teen-Terroriste Ondervragingseenheid, in Afrikaans. The unit was deployed under command of the widely known ‘Rooi Rus’ Swanepoel. Also see G. Richter, ‘1967: Eerste Terroriste-Aanval in Die Oos-Caprivi: Kol Gawie Richter’, Nongqai, 10, 1 (2019), p. 52.

54 National Archives of South Africa, Pretoria (hereafter NASA), BAO 6702 Ref 105/44, ‘Caprivi Zipfel Administrasie 1940–1964’; Richter, ‘Eerste Terroriste-Aanval’, p. 52.

55 C. Murphy, ‘Information Sharing Workshop’, report, held at Imusho Ward, Sioma Ngwezi National Park, Zambia, (Conservation International, 2007), p. 14; National Archives of Namibia, Windhoek, South West Africa (hereafter NAN), LKM SU 3/3/18, ‘Tribal Authorities – Basubia Meetings 1968’, 23 November 1968.

56 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, pp. 305–6.

57 African National Congress, ‘Strategy and Tactics of the African National Congress’ (Morogoro, 1969), p. 8.

58 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 305.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid., p. 306.

61 University of Cape Town Libraries: Special Collections, Jack Simons Papers, ZA UCT BC1081, J.P. Motshabi, ‘Brief Autobiography’ (1988), p. 11; Mbali, In Transit, p. 129. Mbali accepted the invitation based on his ‘personal respect of and confidence in Chief Commissar Boshielo and the calibre of his men’. He was prevented by circumstances from joining the mission.

62 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 306.

63 Mbali, In Transit, p. 130.

64 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 306.

65 Ibid.; Mbali, In Transit, p. 130; Zolile Nqosi, Pallo Jordan and James April, informal discussion with author, Cape Town, 9 July 2017.

66 Sibeko and Leeson, ‘Faldon (Castro) Mzwonke’, Chapter 35.

67 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 306; R. Suttner, ‘Being a Revolutionary: Reincarnation or Carrying over Previous Identities?’, Review Article, Social Identities, 10, 3 (2004), pp. 419–20; E. Harvey, Kgalema Motlanthe: A Political Biography (Johannesburg, Jacana Media, 2012), p. 44; interview, Mavuso Walter Msimang, video call, 7 September 2021; Delius, A Lion amongst the Cattle, p. 102.

68 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 306.

69 Ibid.; Ellis, External Mission, p. 85.

70 Mokoro (also makoro): a traditional dugout canoe, usually propelled by a single boatsman, standing up and punting with a long pole.

71 Informal discussion with author, Benjamin Mabuku, Dominic Mulenamaswe, Luckson Mulenamaswe and White Masule., Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

72 Interviews, former SAP-S members, 2012, 2019.

73 Ibid.

74 Interview, Gilbert Muhongo Mutwa, Windhoek, 4 July 2018; informal discussion with author, Benjamin Mabuku and White Masule, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

75 Interview, former SAP-S member, 2012.

76 Interview, Simataa Nelson Musipili, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

77 Ibid.

78 Ibid.; informal discussion with author, Benjamin Mabuku and White Masule, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

79 Informal discussion with author, Benjamin Mabuku, Katima Mulilo, 11 June 2018.

80 Interview, former SAP-S member, 2012.

81 Informal discussions with author, Benjamin Mabuku, Dominic Mulenamaswe, Luckson Mulenamaswe and White Masule; and as observed by the author at Ishuwa, 14 July 2015.

82 Interview, Simataa Nelson Musipili, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015; and as observed by the author at Ishuwa, 14 July 2015.

83 Interview, Simataa Nelson Musipili, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

84 Interview, Altar John Mofu, Ihaha, 10 Sept 2015; interview, former SAP-S member, 2012.

85 Simataa Nelson Musipili, interview by author, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

86 Ibid.; interview, Altar John Mofu, Ihaha, 10 Sept 2015.

87 NAN, LKM SU 3/2/1 File 1/7/2, ‘Inquests 1970–71’.

88 Faldini Mziwonke must refer to Faldon Mzwonke and I assume that Theophillus Makalipi @ Victor Dhlamini is Victor Ndaba, also known as Theo Mkhalipi @ Victor Dlamini. The third name (Joseph Mgomane) must either refer to Bob Zulu or Flag Boshielo. Since Flag Boshielo was also known as Mokgomane, I deduce that Boshielo was the third man, although it is not clear why he used the name Joseph.

89 NAN, LKM SU 3/2/1 File 1/7/2, ‘Inquests 1970–71’.

90 Ibid.

91 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 306; Ellis, External Mission, p. 85.

92 The South African Inquests Act of 1959.

93 NAN, LKM SU 3/2/1 File 1/7/2, ‘Inquests 1970–71’. Hansmeyer served in the Eastern Caprivi from 1968 till 1971. The P.N Hansmeyer Collection can be found at the Archive for Contemporary Affairs (ARCA), PV816, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. No mention was found among his papers of the highly unusual event of the deaths of three armed ANC cadres in the Eastern Caprivi.

94 Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow, p. 101.

95 O. Tambo, ‘Minutes of the Meeting of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress of South Africa’, transcript of opening address, Lusaka, 27 August 1971, available at https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/cis/omalley/OMalleyWeb/03lv03445/04lv04015/05lv04051/06lv04052/07lv04053.htm, retrieved 6 March 2024.

96 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 307.

97 Lodge, Black Politics, p. 302; T. Simpson, ‘“The Bay and the Ocean”: A History of the ANC in Swaziland, 1960–1979’, African Historical Review, 41, 1 (2009), pp. 98–100; T. Simpson, ‘Main Machinery: The ANC’s Armed Underground in Johannesburg during the 1976 Soweto Uprising’, African Studies, 70, 3 (2011), pp. 419–22; Shubin, ANC: A View from Moscow, pp. 332–9.

98 The report claims to be based on information provided by a reliable source. SANDF DoD, 1MG Box 122, Op Flemish 1970–71, ‘HQ JCF – Appreciation on Terrorist Threat to Carry Out a “Spectacular” Attack on the RSA in 1970/1971’ (26 August 1970).

99 Ibid.

100 Ibid., ‘Operational Directive no. 1/70, code name Flemish’ (31 August 1970).

101 NAN, KCA Vol 4 File N.1/15/4, Part III, ‘Notule van die Stamvergadering gehou te Bukalo op 25/9/70’.

102 E.F. Potgieter (1921–1996) was rector of South Africa’s University of the North (1960–1970) and Commissioner-General of the Machangana Territory (Gazankulu) and the Eastern Caprivi.

103 NASA, BAO 5/177 Ref 54/26/8, ‘Notule van Kwartaalvergadering van albei Stamme te Ngweze, gehou op 2 Maart 1971’, Katima Mulilo, 2 March 1971.

104 Interview, Simataa Nelson Musipili, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015; interview, Altar John Mofu, Ihaha, 10 September 2015.

105 Interview, Gilbert Muhongo Mutwa, Windhoek, 4 July 2018; informal discussion with author, Benjamin Mabuku and White Masule, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

106 P. Boss, Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1999), p. 6.

107 Republic of South Africa Government Gazette, Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, Vol. 361, No. 16579, Act No. 34, Section 4, 26 July 1995.

108 M. Fullard, head of the Missing Persons Task Team at South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, email correspondence with author, 18 September 2021. Due to different interpretations of the criteria, as well as human error, the list of 477 was incomplete and inaccurate from the start. For instance, most of the TRC amnesty cases involving missing persons were not included on the list as in the cases of the Pebco three and the Mamelodi 10. In addition, there was a good chance that the missing family members of families who did not make statements to the TRC were not registered on the list.

109 Interview, M.E.K. Lebaka, WhatsApp video call, 15 September 2021; M.E.K. Lebaka, ‘A Theological Understanding of Ancestor Veneration in the Bapedi Society as an Expression of Transcendence and Anticipation of Comfort and Hope’, Dialogo, 8, 1 (2021), pp. 111, 114; M.E.K. Lebaka, ‘The Art of Establishing and Maintaining Contact with Ancestors: A Study of Bapedi Tradition’, HTS Theological Studies, 74, 1 (2018), pp. 1, 5.

110 ‘National Orders Booklet’ (2005), p. 17; Medals to be Issued on the Occasion Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Formation of MK (25 July 2012), p. 18; copy of the document held by the author.

111 Williams, ‘Living in Exile’, p. 67; C. Leys and J.S. Saul, Namibia’s Liberation Struggle: The Two-Edged Sword (London, James Currey, 1995), p. 42.

112 Macmillan, ‘After Morogoro’, p. 306.

113 N. Rousseau, ‘Death and Dismemberment: The Body and Counter-Revolutionary Warfare in Apartheid South Africa’, in E. Anstett and J.M. Dreyfus (eds), Destruction and Human Remains: Disposal and Concealment in Genocide and Mass Violence (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2014), p. 211; Rousseau, ‘Identification, Politics, Disciplines’, p. 177.

114 Fullard, ‘Some Trace Remains’, p. 167.

115 NAN, LKM SU 3/2/1 File 1/7/2, ‘Inquests 1970–71’. In Afrikaans, ‘by nadere ondersoek [is] vasgestel dat drie van die terroriste asgevolg (sic) van skietwonde beswyk het’.

116 Interview, Simataa Nelson Musipili, Katima Mulilo, 14 July 2015.

117 SAP Veiligheidsverslag S.4/10746, 1 April 1974; copy of the document held by the author; in Afrikaans, ‘Sersant H.P. Nicholson vanaf UMTATA stel belang in BENNETT NDAZUKA se bedrywighede’.

118 Interview, former SAP-S member, 2012.

119 The term askari was used for MK members who were ‘turned’ after their arrest and ‘persuaded to work for the Security Branch’. General. J. van der Merwe, ‘Church Street Bombing’, Nongqai, 12, 12B (2021), p. 255; G. Baines, South Africa’s ‘Border War’: Contested Narratives and Conflicting Memories (London, Bloomsbury, 2014), p. 146. See, also, J. Dlamini, Askari: A Story of Collaboration and Betrayal in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle (Auckland Park, Jacana Media, 2014).

120 TRC, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Volume 2, p. 244; Rousseau, ‘Death and Dismemberment’, p. 207; Rousseau, ‘Identification, Politics, Disciplines’, p. 177. Both Captain Jaap Bekker, who led the ambush, and Captain Faan van Niekerk, a member of the counter-terrorism unit in Katima Mulilo, were implicated in an extrajudicial killing in 1972. TRC, Amnesty Hearings Case AM4396/96, W.F. Schoon, ‘Murder of Two ANC Terrorists’, Johannesburg, Day 5 (6 May 1999), Line 27 onwards.

121 This policeman claimed that he was not present at the ambush itself, therefore the word ‘we’ is ambiguous; either he was in fact present and took part in the shooting, or the word refers to the police in a more general way.

122 A reference to Castro Dolo and Victor Ndaba who took part in the Wankie campaign, known as Operation Nickel in SADF records; SANDF DoD, HSI/AMI Group 3 Box 582, DMI N11/33/5/2, ‘Memorandum. ZAPU History of Sabotage and Terrorism’ (4 July 1974), p. 10.

123 Interview, former SAP-S member, 2012.

124 Rousseau, ‘Death and Dismemberment’, p. 209; Fullard, ‘Some Trace Remains’, p. 164. Some of the policemen who took part in the Ishuwa ambush have since passed away: Jaap Bekker and Dries Struwig, both SAP-S, Robert Ntalamo Sinvula, a locally recruited policeman.

125 M. Sledge, Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen (New York, Columbia University Press, 2005), p. 273.

126 N. Rousseau, R. Moosage and C. Rassool, ‘Missing and Missed: Rehumanisation, the Nation and Missing-Ness’, Kronos, 44, 1 (2018) p. 27; Moosage, ‘Missing-Ness, History and Apartheid-Era Disappearances’, p. 287. Unfortunately, plans by MPTT to visit the former Eastern Caprivi in the hope of locating a burial place and to arrange for a spiritual repatriation of Boshielo and his companions, were derailed by Covid restrictions.