Apart from a small minority of MK veterans and perhaps a few Inkatha SPU fighters who had received training from the apartheid security forces in Caprivi, non-state combatants in Thokoza and Katlehong had no previous military training or experience. Some had prior exposure to violence as student activists or through criminal activities but, for the most part, SDU members and IFP fighters were civilians drawn into the conflict because of the violence that consumed their communities. In the initial stages of the violence, prior to the formation of specialised fighting units, large groups of township residents, primarily male, participated in defensive patrols. However, once SDUs were in place they assumed responsibility for defending their communities and taking the war to IFP supporters. Hostels and IFP squatter camps had men slotted into fighting units, but all males were expected to defend their homes and occasionally to participate in mass attacks on ANC areas. Hostel dwellers also carried weapons when commuting to work in case of confrontations with SDUs. Thus, there was a mixture of full-time and part-time non-state combatants in these townships. For all but a few months of the transition period, ISD Unit 6 supplied the primary security force presence in Katlehong and Thokoza.

SDU experiences

Many of the SDUs viewed their involvement less as a matter of choice than as a fight for their survival and that of their families. The intensity of the violence in Thokoza and Katlehong compelled many SDUs to join the fight. Sasha Gear noted the difference between the Thokoza SDUs and other SDUs and MK veterans interviewed for her study of ex-combatants: ‘Thokoza SDUs took up arms primarily in response to the rapidly deteriorating security situation and not for any political ideals, as was the case for many other MK/SDU respondents.’