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39 die in gory Vaal slaughter

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HUNDREDS of armed men slaughtered at least 39 people and left scores Injured In a night raid in the tiny Vaal township of Boipatong on Wednes­day night

The mindless slaughter began aboul 10pm on the eastern side of the township .

The armed mob. some wearing white headbands, began their attack minutes after police had dispersed '.he resi­dents’ nightly street patrol with tearsmoke, the residents said.

"There were so many of them they filled thi- --vhoU street There was no way we coukl fight back.” a resident, an interpreter at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court whose house was looted, said.

“A police patrol sprayed teargas at the patrols, who ran into houses for shelter. It wasall quiet for some minutes but later hell broke loose just after the police had left,” said another witness.

Other witnesses said they heard gunshots but thought ii was the patrols guarding the community.

The shooting stopped for a while.And it was all quiet.About 30 minutes later the shooting started again - this

time accompanied by the shattering of windows and scrcams, a resident said.

“1 saw a green police Casspir parked next to the camp as I fled from my house,” a witness said.

The mob had, at that time, pounced on the squatter camp

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and houses bordering the settlement.Some tried to flee from their houses and shacks. Rut they

were met with bullets, axes and pangas from the Tite'iaung mob.

Nine-month-oW Aaron Mathopa and his mother. j= Rebecca Mathopa (43), were among the firet victims ^hen the rampaging mob struck at Slovo squatter camp about 10pm.

The squatter camp was under siege for about 15 minutes before the mob turned westwards through the streets of the iownship - leaving at least 17 people dead.

Doors "ere broken down, windows smashed. Adui<\ and childrer :0ike were shot, hacked and stabbed.

Some died i.rheir beds. Others were caught while trying •n flee.

The raid was more severe at the squatter camp and x.

bouses nearby.The trend seemwl to change as the mob moved towards

the entrance of (he township.This time* the mob was looting furniture, clothes and

food while others continued with the savagery.“A police Casspir followed the mob as they left tnr

township in the direction of K waMadala hostel, a witness said.

About 15 oeople had been killed when the mob left the township.

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aLTactoriea along the Tht mob flee* to Kwa- Hou*»i !n Boipatong main road loading to Mao. ‘a Hoatel after townatHp.Bolf Jtong town*hip. the a' .*ck.

a-Madala HostelThe trail ■>? aeath len !jy the attackwrs.

"Hie Slovo and W innie squatter cam ps.

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Afterawtii: h M w weep a t tha bodies ol two men are removed fro*

HE savage armed inva­sion of Vaal township Roipatong — which left more than 40 people dead — has focused renewed attention on

iscor and its kwaMadala hostel, the alleged springboard of the attack.

The timing of the massacre, on Wednesday night, also hints at a deliberate attempt to stoke vio­lence and derail the African National Congress’s mass action cam paign, which got off to a rem arkably peaceful s ta rt on Soweto Day this week.

Despite Bolpatong residents’ insistence that kwaM adala Inmates were responsible, Law and O rder spokesman C raig Kotze linked the massacre to the ANC campaign, stating that It had “created a climate in which vio­lence could easily happen”.

kwaMadala, a disused Iscor hos­tel occupied in 199U by Inkatha- wpporting workers, is widely seen as an Inkatha military base at the centre of the Vaal’s ongoing politi­

cal violence. Iscor, which admits many of its Inmates are no longer employees, has resisted repeated calls for it to be shut down.

“We are not going back to work until this is sorted ou t," a Boipatong worker told us. “ We expect our companies to tell Iscor to remove these people from kwaMadala. These people being boused there are the problem For the community. This kind or thing has happened before."

In a statem ent yesterday, the South A frican Council of Churches said Its V*al affiliate

■ Continued on PAGE 2

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• F ro m PAGE 1tu<I submitted evidence in ike G okHlone Gwnm.vs«»n n> the effort Ibal moU o f the vi»>- fence in the Vaal emanated from kwaMadala lav td .

Ihc Vaal U v ic A ssociation has callcd ft* ■ Mayaway today and plans an: aft** t i hu n ch a q — cr buyout k» pnncst againsr * e k i ll in g

Then.- have been numerous claim s o f security f a c e hacking fur kw aM adala . I .act y ea r the S.ADl sparked a furore hvrccntiiing to m e ot its inmines as (Mmm.iixliM. A p o ik e w a r a i l ifln T f, ‘Ihys N t*k. i> ul* • alleged k> have taken ptirt in the planning t»f :inti A N C attacks a t the hos#el tS w Pajp 7».

i Komknh imen iewvd In 7 V H ,***• Muit u v police faikd to rot* ♦ Ik ' pkns fa M r*» hrn ihr attack «an«tl ffthcis olxim i^ i ic t C aw firs •ppoaud iruinl) concerned with dispersing “uwmaik mobilising again* ihr a u i n v

A* far ;is conk I lie determined. oil xM the dead. hk*m of them women and children, wctc kwvn- ship iwid.-nts.

fly makkiy \r\lcidi> Ok- death ktO was 43 including i nine month pregnant woman anil a uinc-nioritfi old tab}. both o f whom hail hH;n sfvarcd k» tV.iih but |* Why w w still icnnn iug W|Hs.

ANC* general secretary t Vnl K Miophoso and South African ( 'omm unist Party chM rman Jin.’ Sk»vo were scheduled to address a mas* meeting la te r in the day. a f te r a b r ie f in g w ith V aalactivists.

Resident-* say the massacrc « m j revenge

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Massacre launched from Iscor's hostels & 5 lr a * * * T t: tPr*

attack sparked by the kilting of an Inkatha su*>- purler and Uoipakmg resident. David Mhele. Lea weekend

A mob iif about K lln rn »v jrii|; white head harxK kick ie* and jcknv* and bearing weapiim rampaged thnxigh the kiwnship am! tU- a i m ­ing Skivo l*ark * |i artei camp lium about 'Jpm <«i Wednesday nighL indiscriminate!) hack ini’ prn- pie. breaking windows, miy! loitfin^ InoneMrwt. a* manv as I? bouses had been vandalised and kiokxl.

Vcstentijy. anjuy ct>miiidr-« who had set u|i harrkiKJes at every street corner thronged the streets, in hinu f»»r revenge. anwKt u heavy pr«%- cm rn t |«»fkr aisl w *ldk-r> fnwn 2 1 BattalH'n. Ry midday nimpupn^ eomnuks had set alight it* houses of a polrcman arkt inkalha mcinl«r>

I ;•!<• y eslrrday polkvk i c still removing N«d ics fnm) fetuses and shta-ksarnund the unv Women wailed .is lhe> saw a«|>o> larinc taken off k> Die pnem m ent mtvluary.

One resident of a hiane whctr two men wen: da«n said a white man. wearing aI4aek hedactava. was among a gniup of "five Zulus" wtx • ohm

the dwelling I

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nff their floors and hoarding up broken wimkiwv Ouxide K>u$e fay a blood-soaked mat on w hich three people had been killed.

One woman, huddled with others around the bt*l> ol her nmihei. Deiina LenMiane. 5X. k4d la»w a mob of men broke windows and skinned Hh: tVMiv Ktpm MMy mothci WlAr lip. Ift4k*wcd her. We were afraid After that I hid ondcr the bed. I heard the men say they want ANC menihns ’’ ’Ihe giieving woman sakl hei mother had been undressed by the men and ■abbed ft> death. Ihe IV art and hi-fi had been tmaslied and the k lej4nw de*m*yvd

In one hiwse. where three adult siblings were iMcked k' skotlh. a stunned J-ke I j*tsoko k)kJ how his two Imuhers liad liccn killed in Uk.*ir buds I (is Mster Anna had jumped out of the window to ■void Ihe atlackeis hut was lo llow rd a*»d Knc he red outside

I ctsoko pointed to a gruesome heap of hknui- slaiucd ckKhev among w hk t lay twx» white rub- h.Tgl»ives. w hich relativ es said hid been wxvn by qne ol tlie nvuaudin^ men.

Shaekdweller FJi/ubeth Kolalswew u k>kl how

her sister-in law Elisa Mhatha had knocked on the docK. “I oould hear her children crying from the shack next dour. I opened the door and she fell on the floor. 5»he wan stabbed and chopped on her neck. She died there on the floor."

KolaLswewu said Mbalha fed with her baby still strapped m her hack the child had been hacked cat the arm. but survived.

Many residents said police had arrived hous after being phtwied fra help.

“I kild the |x4icc wbai was happening and they asked where the comrade* were, because they wei< supposed to be panoiling the township," said Churlcs Neluheni. wt»*c grandmother wB stabbed ui death.

Ilie fence sutrounding Nelutcni s house liad been mowed down by a police (-asspir, he rlaimcd. IIWA/)' Kimtl reponers witnessed deep hack ma> ks on the grass.

Sebokeng hospiul supcrmicndenl Dr Cocnk Momberg told Wn'kly Mail 17 people, mostly with Slab and hack w ounds had mo far been admitted. Seven o f them are children ranging from four to 10 years and two childien aged alxNit live are in intensive care.

Polkx commissioner General Johan van d a Merwe said he was “mo« concerned at the kag- k und senseless murder of a manlier of pe t^e in Roipakmg kiwnship". Vander Merwe said inten­sive sleps had been taken lo investigate the killings and that Major-(icncral Hanncs Cikiy, lYwnmaitdei of the Special Im-esiigation Unit set up l»y the National Pcvee A u u n l would I lead the investigation.

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•F ro m PAGE 1had s u b m i t te d ev idcncc to the G oltlslone Commission lo the erfect most o f the vio­lence in the Vaal em anated from kwaM adalahostel. . . . . j r .

f he Vaal Civic Association has called tor a stayaway today and plans are afoot lo launch a consumerinycolt lo protest against llw killings.

Tliere hfcve been numerous claims of security force hacking fur kw aM adala. Last year the SADF sparked a furore byrecruiting some of its inmates as commandos. A policc warrant officcr, Thys Nolte, is also alleged lo Have taken part in the planning of anli-ANC attacks at the hostel(Set* Page 7).

Residents interviewed by 77ic Weekly Mail say police failed lo respond to pleas for help when the attack started. O thers claim police C assp irs appeared m ainly concerned with d ispersing "comrades" mobilising against the attackers.

As fai as could be determined, all of the dead, most of them women and children, were town­ship lesidenLs. . . . . .1

Bv midday yesterday the death toll was 43 — including a nine-month pregnant woman and a nine-month-old baby, both of whom had been speared to death — but |x»lice were still removing

ANC general-secielary Cyril Ramaphosa and South African Communist Party chairman Joe Slovo were scheduled lo address a mass meeting la ter in the day, a lte r a b rie fin g w ith V aal activists.

R e sid e n ts say the m a s sa c re w a s a re v e n g e

Massacre launched from Iscor's hostelattack sparked by the killing of an Inkalha sup­porter and Boipalong resident, David Mlx:le, Iasiweekend. ,

A mob of about 2IK) men wearing white head­bands, tackies and gloves and bearing weapons rampaged through the township and the adjoin­ing Slovo Park squatter camp front about 9pm on Wednesday night, indiscriminately hacking peo­ple b r e a k in g windows, and looting. In one street, ns niany as 12 houses had been vandalised and looted.

Yesterday, angry com rades who had set up barricades at every street corner thronged the streets, itching Tor revenge, amidst a heavy pies- ence of police and soldiers from 21 Battalion By midday rampaging comrades had set alight the houses of a |K>liceman and Inkalha inemlx;r.

I .ate yesterday police were still removing bod­ies from houses and shucks around llie township. W omen wailed as lliey saw corpses being taken off to the government mortuary.

One resident of a house where two men were slain said a while man, wearing a black balaclava, was among a group of “ five Zulus” who came lo attack llie dwelling.

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Stunned residents were still washing the blood off their lloois and I* larding up broken windows. Ouside one house lay a blood-soaked mat on which three people had been killed.

One woman, huddled wilh others around the body of her mother, Ik lin a I erobane, 58, told how a mob of men broke windows and stormed the house at alxnil l()pni. “My mother woke up, I followed her. We were afiaid After that I hid under the bed. I heard the men say they want ANC members ” Hie grieving woman said her m other had been undressed by the m en and stabbed lo death, llie I V set and hi-fi had been smashed and the telephone destroyed.

In one house, where three adult siblings were hacked to death, a stunned Jake Lclsoko told how his two brothers had lieen killed in their beds. 11 is sister Anna had jum ped out o f the window to avoid the a ttack ers but w as lo llow ed andbutcliered outside.

UMsoko pointed to a gruesome heapol blood­stained clothes, among which lay two white rub­ber gloves, which relatives said had been worn by one o f llie marauding men

Shackdweller l-lizabelh Kolatswewu told how

her sister-in-law lllisa Mbatha had knocked on the door. ‘I could heat her children crying Irorn the shack next door. I opened the door and she fell on the floor She was stabbed and chopped on her neck. She died there on the lloor.”

K olatswew u said M balha fell with her baby still strapped lo her back — the child had been

hacked on the aim, but survived.Many residents said police had arrived hours

aflei l>ciiig phoned for help.-I told the policc what was happening and they

asked where the com rades were, because they were supposed lo be patrolling the township, said Charles Neluhcni, whose grandmother wasstabbed lo death.

llie fence surrounding Ncluheni’s house had been m ow ed dow n by a po lice C.asspir, he claimed. Weekly M ail re n tie r s witnessed deep track m aikson the grass.

Scbokeng hospital superinlendent Dr Coeme M omberg told Weekly M ail 17 people, mostly w ith slab and hack w ounds, had so far been admitted. Seven of them are children ranging from four to in years and two children aged aboul five are in intensive care.

Police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe said he was "most concerned at the trag­ic and senseless murder of a number of people in Boipalong township". Van der Merwe s<iid inten­sive steps had been taken lo investiga te the killings and that Major-General llannes Gloy, commander of the Special Investigation Unit set up by the National Peace Accord, would head the investigation.

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The night thaty/v 1 4 1 6 / 4 L

By William Maclean

After the killers had done their work, bodies frozen in their death throes bore tes­timony yesterday to one of South A frica’s worst town­ship massacres.

Grieving women surround­ed the corpse of Benjamin Mo- soetsa, one of 39 people killed in Boipatong sq u a tte r cam p

south of Johannesburg on Wednesday night by raiders wielding knives, guns and axes.

His pitifully thin body lay in a pool of congealed blood on th e f lo o r of a fo u r- ro o m "m atchbox” house, his head tw isted to the side, his face locked in a grimace.

Rigor m ortis had frozen his hands in front of his chest, as if to ward off the bullets that killed him.

“A gang of men cam e to the window last night," one of his g riev ing re la tiv e s sa id , her body heaving with emotion.

“They broke the windows, kicked in the door, and shot Benjamin and his brother.”

In a house nearby survivors repeated the story.

This tim e the v ictim was Baleni Lerabane (58), a m em ­ber of the Z ionist C hristian Church, whose m em bers shun politics. Being non-aligned in

the tow nsh ip w ars did not save her.

“The men kicked in the door and said they wanted someone from the ANC,” her daughter Bertha said. "My mother said there is no one here from the ANC.”

The men slit her tiiroat any­way and stripped the body to her underwear.

A m ortuary truck escorted by arm oured police vehicles follow ed the t r a i l of dea th

through appalling scenes of carnage. The floor of the van ran with blood.

In one dusty s t ree t of the p o v e r t y - s t r i c k e n s lu m , a mother still grasped her nine- month-old infant to her breast. Both had been stabbed dead.

A fu ll- term pregnan t wo­man sprawled nearby, and a one-year-old child lav dead on th e n e x t b lock . — S a p a - Reuter.

0

Bitter row overmassacre

Govt accused of complicity, police of failing to act

W hile a shocked Boipa- tong m ourned yesterday a f te r Wednesday night’s s lau g h te r which left a t le a s t 39 people brutally m u rd e re d , the In k a th a F reedom P arty and the police vehemently deniedco m p lic ity in m as '

e re . w hich re s id e n ts claim ed was com m itted by Zulu-speaking hostel dwellers.

Among the victims of the carnage wreaked by a ram ­p ag in g im pi w as a nine- m o n th s p re g n a n t w oraan who was shot and stabbed to d e a th . H o rr if ie d d o c to rs trea tin g the wounded from the tinv Vaal Triangle settle­m e n t sa id they could not im agine w hat weapons bad c a u se d th e huge, g ap in g wounds in victims as young as three and as old as 70.

M onitoring group Peace

Action charged that the po­lice w ere warned of an im­pending attack a t 730 pm on W ednesday and could have prevented the bloodshed that

C followed a few hours later. P e a c e A ctio n m o n ito r

By B ronw vn Wilkinson. Mt

this shocking ac t and have brought them to justice.” he said. “Together with the vio­lent deaths of a t least 35 peo­ple on Monday and Tuesday nights, this act adds to ten­sion created by the in to lera­ble level of violence in our :ountry.”

Dem ocratic P arty law and o rder sponesman P eter Gas- ■fcrow said that if the police failed to a rrest all suspects \m m e d ia te lv , “ a slide to ­w ards anarchy is possible. ~fhe police response to the m a ssa c re w ill give South Africa an ind ication as to W hether o r no t the po lice force is capable of m aintain­

ing law and order."Although the police denied

they did not ac t fast enough to prevent the attack, an in­te n s iv e in v e s tig a tio n w as lau n ch ed im m e d ia te ly . A to ll-f re e num ber. 0800-11- 1213. w as se t u p f o r w i t -

More reports — Pages 3 and 13

V enetia Govender told The S ta r ' “Thev did not try to prevent it. If they did. there is no evidence of it.”

P re s id e n t de K lerk e x ­pressed shock a n d revulsion a t the mindless killing. He is­sued a statem ent in some of the harshest condem natory term s yet. He also expressed his deepest condolences with the families and loved ones of the victims.

"I wish to assure the peo­ple of South Africa that we will not rest until we have found the p e rp e tra to rs of

nesses to supply th e SAP with information.

R u p e rt L o n m e r. a c tin g cha irm an of the ex ecu tiv e com mittee of the W itwaters-

' rand-Vaal Regional D ispute Resolution Com mittee of the

* National Peace Accord, said

i "l the com m ittee was urgently \ attending to the m assacre.1 The executive com m ittee r would m eet tom orrow and / ask the Goldstone Commis- v sion to invesugate the kill- fi ings. He said he had spoken

— to Law and Order M inister H ernus K riel who had p ro ­mised th a t allegations of po­lice collusion would be fol­lowed up in the SAP investi­gation.

The m assacre, the w orst in South A frica’s v io lence- r a c k e d to w n s h ip s s in c e M arch 1990 when 80 people died in N atal townships, has prompted a barrage of accu­sations and counter-accusa­

tions.ANC s e c r e ta ry - g e n e r a l

Cvril Ram aphosa. who visit­ed the scene of devastation w ith SACP c h a irm a n Jo e Slovo yesterday morning, de­sc ribed the m a ssac re as a national tragedy.

“We charge F W de Klerk and his G o v ern m e n t w ith com plicity in this slaughter.I t is becoming c lea r tha t the Governm ent s agenda is that thev w ant to negotiate with an ANC th a t is pow erless and has no following (as a resu lt of township killings).

" T h is ty p e of v io le n ce could lead to neg o tia tio n s being derailed." he warned.

M r Slovo said the in terna­t io n a l c o m m u n ity shou ld cease m eeting Mr de Klerk while his hands w ere “full of

bl The H um an R ights Com­m ission sa id the m a sw e re confirm ed th e re w ere e le­m en ts w ith in In k a th a the security forces tha t ha an in te re s t in fuelling the violence andown prophecy th a t the ANC s p r o g r a m m e of m ass action will raise the political tem -

^ B o ^ t h e po lice an d th e IF P vehem ently denied com-

p“ § - P T r ^ v S

ZltftLSESJZV° ^ a « hom fi2d th a t the a ttack ers have been ldenti-

m ates on the m ere M su m r tion tha t they w ere aliegeaiy

• To Page 2 ■

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• From Page 1

Zulu-soeaKing. We reject this crude link with the contempt it deserves.

“The tendency to autom at­ically jump to certain conclu­sions after these attacks and to use the hostel residents as a convenient scapegoat, despite th e re being no ev idence to support those conclusions, is outrageous.” Mr Khoza said. £

S q u a tte r cam p re s id e n ts were adam ant they had been attacked by an IF P impi. Vio­lence continued yesterday af­ternoon as furious Boipatong residents retaliated. At noon, the borne of an IFP member was set alight. By the um e po­lice got there, residents had deserted the area. Soon after this, a house belonging to a po­liceman was set a lig h t

A police unit under the com- . mand of M ajor-General G em t

E rasm us, reg ional com m is­sioner of the W itwatersrand. raided hostels near Boipatong yesterday. The SAP said sev­era l dangerous, home-m ade w eapons w ere se iz e d and would be se n t fo r fo rensic tests. No arrests w ere made.

Ki le a s t 30 v ic tim s w ere treated a t Sebokeng Hospital. The senior superintendent Dr C C Momberg. told Sapa 17 of the in jured w ere s till th e ' ves te rd ay afte rnoon . Sevi w ere ch ild ren and two are now in th e in te n s iv e ca re u n it” Dr Momberg said.

C o m m issio n er of Police General Johan van der Merwe vesterdav issued instructions for an im m ediate , intensive investigation into the “tragic and senseless m urder”. The in­vestigation would be headed by M a jo r-G e n e ra l Hannes Glov. com mander of the Spe­cial Investigation Unit estab lished in term s of the Nationa Peace Accord.

“I wish to make an urgen appeal for calm in the are and to all concerned not t take anv action which coui further inflame an already e> trem elv vo la tile situation General van der Merwe said.

Law and O rd e r Mimsti sp o k e sm an C a p ta in Cra Kotze said the political ter pera tu re had been raised • the ANC’s m ass action cai p a ig n "w h ich nndoubtec created a clim ate in which is easier for such incidents

Collection Number: AK2672 Goldstone Commission BOIPATONG ENQUIRY Records 1990-1999 PUBLISHER: Publisher:- Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand Location:- Johannesburg ©2012

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