Two face trial for Bisho massacre

By Lulamile Feni
and Louise Flanagan

BISHO -- Two former Ciskei Defence Force (CDF) soldiers are to be charged with murder in connection with the 1992 Bisho massacre, the national Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bulelani Ngcuka said here yesterday.

"We will be asking for life imprisonment in both cases," said Ngcuka when announcing the prosecutions. Former Colonel Vakele Archibald Mkosana, 40, and Rifleman Mzamile Thomas Gonya, 42, face one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Mkosana faces an additional 27 counts of culpable homicide.

The massacre took place in September 1992, when CDF troops opened fire on about 70000 ANC supporters who marched to Bisho to demand the resignation of then military ruler Brigadier Oupa Gqozo.

Twenty-eight protesters and a soldier died and hundreds were injured. Both Mkosana and Gonya were refused amnesty for their role in the massacre by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) last year. They were the only two people who had applied for amnesty in connection with this matter.

The two are expected to appear in the Bisho High Court early next week. They have not been arrested, but both were contacted by the office of the Bisho DPP Johan Bezuidenhout on Wednesday and warned to hand themselves to the Bisho police. Bezuidenhout, who was with Ngcuka at yesterday's announcement, will prosecute the case.

Neither the soldiers who did the shooting, nor the CDF commanders are facing charges. Various inquiries over the years have largely agreed on how the order to open fire came about. Mkosana was the field commander at the massacre. Gonya was in charge of a grenade-launcher.

Mkosana radioed to his commanders, Colonel Dirk van der Bank and Brigadier Marius Oelschig, that his troops were under fire and asking for permission to open fire. This permission was granted on the understanding that the marchers were shooting at the troops.

Ngcuka said the senior officers had authorised Mkosana to "return fire" -- meaning that troops should only fire when they were actually fired at -- but Mkosana had simply ordered his troops to "fire", resulting in them immediately starting to shoot.

"In our view, Mkosana bears responsibility for the entire massacre."

In addition, said Ngcuka, there was no evidence that any shots had ever been fired at the troops as Mkosana had claimed.

"If indeed you are being fired upon, you have a right to defend yourself. On that basis, we then exclude the high command of the defence force. We will use them as witnesses, but we will not charge them."

Various inquiries found that Gonya, who was stationed near Mkosana, opened fire with the grenade-launcher. Ngcuka said this resulted in the death of Tobani Gola, the only marcher who was killed in that area.

This is the murder with which both Mkosana and Gonya are being charged. The attempted murder charges relate to Bushy Vantyu and Xolisa Wiseman Dyakupu, who were both in that area. Vantyu was acting as a bodyguard to ANC leader Ronnie Kasrils at the time.

Ngcuka said these three were part of a group of marchers, led by Kasrils, who were fleeing the bullets. "It was a cold-blooded and brutal murder of people who were running away."