One blackk journalist, Mondli Makhanya (the then Editorr of South Africas newspaper, the Sunday Times) actively participated in a key aspect of the peoples war. Makhanya came from KwaMashu (Durban)l and supported the ANCs internal ally, the United Democratic Front (UDF), in the conflict with Inkatha. Writing in 1991 under a pseudnym, Makhanya described his own participaation in an incident on the 11th of February 1990 (the day Mandela was released from prison) in which an approaching Inkatha impi was repulsed and the IFP was then routed from the nearby shack settlement. According to Makhanya, the young lions [ANC] then helped themselves to radios and other valuables left behind, before setting [IFP] shacks ablaze.. Makhanya himself concentrated on burning shackss, while other youths finished off wounded Inkatha warriors, one of whom had his eyes gouged out and his genitals cut off while Makhanya looked on. One injured Inkatha man was dragged down to the township and set alight, and then had rubble piled on him to prevent escape. Wrote Makhanya: To me he was not a human being - he was an enemy who deserved what he got. Looking back on his experience as a warrior in Natal, Makhanya added: Nauseating as it was, I was proud to be a part of it ... I must also admit that I enjoyed the excitement of battle: the sight of a sea of burning shacks and desperate men running for dear life. Makhanyas account suggests that his capacity for assessment and reporting might have been eroded via his involvement in fighting.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 16:39:38 +0000
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