The Gugulethu Seven - Leading Up To The Incident

Leading Up To The Incident

In the mid 1980s, there was a rise in Umkhonto we Sizwe or MK operatives, the 1961-founded, armed wing of the ANC. In response, General Griebenouw of the Western Cape Security called upon Brigadier Schoon of the Security Branch Headquarters in Pretoria as well as the assistance of the Vlakplaas. Vlakplaas commander, Eugene de Kock chose Rian Bellingan to lead an operative team ordered to intervene with anti-apartheid operations. The men chosen as part of the team were Thapelo Johannes Mbelo, Joe Coetzer, and other Vlakplaas askaris like Gladstone Moss, Eric 'Shakes' Maluleke and Jimmy Mbane.

The operative team was based in Koeberg and in early January 1986, drove into Cape Town aboard three vehicles; one was a minibus with weapons and explosives concealed inside. After failed attempts to infiltrate Mbelo into the Gugulethu Seven, Mbane and Maluleke were sent in.

Mbane and Maluleke, who reported to Bellingan and Liebenberg, were successful at slipping in and gaining the trust of the Gugulethu Seven over time. At first they were given weapons and grenades and went to the home of Yamile (the squatter leader). There, they told Yamile that they were commanders from exile and showed him their weapons in the minibus. Yamile then introduced Mbane and Maluleke to Piet, a member and the supposed leader of the Gugulethu Seven. It is said that Mbane and Maluleke even helped fix Piet's faulty AK-47 at one point.

Over the next two months, Mbane trained the youth in basic military combat while Maluleke gave them a political education; Piet seemed to be the only youth that had previous combat training. Mbane and Maluleke also had the youth write their own biographies, which was a standard practice in liberation movements. It was later discovered that Mbane gave those to Bellingan.

Eventually, an attack was planned for 3 March that would target a police bus that took senior policemen to Gugulethu station every morning. Mbane told Bellingan and Liebenberg this, who prepared for the event.