Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Farm labourers in Mpumalanga's deep south say they have finally won a hard-fought battle for the abolishing of army commandos.

Labourers on farms around rural towns of Wakkerstroom, Piet Retief, Volksrust and Amersfoort have been complaining to national and provincial authorities over the past four years to end the Wakkerstroom Commando's reign of terror against black farm labourers.

They claimed that commandos were used by farmers to force them off land.

Activists have praised President Thabo Mbeki's announcement during his state of the nation address on Friday that the 183 part-time South African National Defence Force (SANDF) units in the country were going to be phased out.

Safety and security minister Charles Nqakula reiterated Mbeki's statement this week saying that commando members have been linked to "atrocities."

Andile Mngxitama, a National Land Committee (NLC) official and anti-commando lobbyist, said on Tuesday that the government's step was closing a chapter of collusion between white farmers, commandos and justice officials against vulnerable labourers.

"This is a real victory for farm dwellers that the government has finally recognised that commandos serve the interests of the landlords and they're vicious," Mngxitama said.

"There are classic cases, especially in Mpumalanga, proving that commandos, which normally have white farmers as leaders, were colluding with white magistrates and prosecutors," he said.

Spokesman for the militant Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) Mangaliso Kubheka said that commando should done away with because they "beat, kill and even castrate" labourers.

Complaints from Mpumalanga labourers prompted former safety and security MEC Steve Mabona to appoint a special police unit, Gijima Tsotsi, in 2 000 to re-open and re-investigate more than 100 cases against commando members that were allegedly thrown out of court by biased magistrates and prosecutors since 1996.

Many of the cases couldn't be revived however, when police were unable to trace key witnesses after such a long time.

Transvaal Agricultural Union (Tau) safety and security spokesman Boela Niemann said that his union wasn't surprised by government's decision to phase out commandoes.

He said commandos had been under an orchestrated onslaught by the NLC and the militant LPM in recent years.

He said that the government should find a solution to the problems in rural areas, and not consider police as a replacement for commandos, as police were struggling to fulfil their own mandate to protect the public.

Opposition political parties such as the Democratic Alliance (DA), New National Party (NNP) and the Freedom Front (FF) have opposed the phase-out of the commandos.

* A R1,9 million suit brought against defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota by two farm workers who say they were tortured by commando members will be heard in the Pretoria High Court in November.

Farm labourers Moses Mayisela (36) and Mgezeni Hlatshwayo (41) claim that 10 Wakkerstroom Commando members tortured them in October 1996.

Mayisela was left permanently blind after the soldiers allegedly assaulted him before giving him electric shocks and spraying teargas on his face.

The labourers name prominent farmer and former leader of the commando, Barend Greyling, as a perpetrator. Greyling's brother, Willem, is also mentioned.

Mayisela of Rooikop farm near Wakkerstroom is suing for R1,6 million, while Hlatshwayo of Driefontein is suing for R341 300.

Complaints by farm labourers prompted Lekota and senior cabinet ministers to visit the SANDF's regional head office in Ermelo in 2000.

It was said that farm workers possibly confused soldiers with security guards who wore camouflage uniforms and Lekota got a High Court interdict prohibiting security companies from issuing camouflage outfits.

International watchdog, Human Rights Watch, also conducted investigations in the area in 2001 and expressed shock at stories told by the rural community.

Human Rights Watch researcher Bronwen Manby recommended in her report titled, Unequal Protection: The State Response to Violent Crime on South African Farms, that commandos should be banned from fighting crime and the job should be left solely in police's hands.