The sabotage of the Koeberg Nuclear power station near Cape Town in December 1982 was the fifth successful attack by guerillas on energy installations within six months. The five incidents caused extensive damage to three fuel depots, an oil pumping station and the nearly-complete nuclear power station.
These attacks were part of the sustained campaign of armed action which has expanded since 1976. Almost all of the actions have been carried out by combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress.
INCIDENTS
As in previous years, the incidents during 1982 have been widespread geographically, and have been directed at a wide range of targets. Although almost half of the reported incidents took place in Natal and the Eastern Transvaal, the rest were spread throughout the country. The attacks included the following:
- Energy Installations. Three fuel depots in May (Hectorspruit, Eastern Transvaal), June (Paulpietersburg, Northern Natal) and November (Mkuze, Northern Natal), an oil pumping station in June (Vryheid, Northern Natal) and the Koeberg nuclear power station (Cape Town).
- Transport system. Rail commuter traffic in Soweto was halted in June when the electricity supply was cut. The rail line from Maputo to Johannesburg and the rail bridge across the Orange River near Upington were targets of attacks.
- Administration of apartheid. There were at least six attacks on apartheid administration offices and law courts. Administration Board offices were attacked in Pinetown and Durban in May and Soweto in June; the regional offices of the Directorate of Coloured Affairs in Durban was attacked in June; a Commissioners Court at Langa, Cape, in March; and Law Courts at Port Elizabeth in July. In June a bomb exploded in the building housing the President's Council in Cape Town, causing extensive damage.
- Military and police targets. Incidents which appear to have been part of the armed struggle include two attacks on police stations (northern Natal in May and near the Mozambique/ Swaziland border in November). The incident in November also involved a rocket and small arms attack on a temporary army barracks at Tongo. During August explosions and fire caused R100,000 damage at an army headquarters in Durban. Mkuze, where one of the attacks on fuel depots took place, is the site of an operational military airstrip.
Consistent with the pattern of previous years, and with the proclaimed policies of the ANC, the choice of targets appears to indicate a concern to avoid loss of civilian life. In the attack on the offices of the President's Council in Cape Town, however, one person died.
The number of incidents reported in the press during 1982 was less than in 1981, but more than in previous years. However, there are reasons for believing that a number of incidents have not been reported and that some which appear to be the work of saboteurs are reported as being accidents.
In the past, news of attacks has in some cases only leaked out months or years after they have happened (in the course of evidence presented in trials). In addition some trials, or at least details of some trials, go unreported in the press.
Statements that news of incidents had been kept from the press were contained in a United States Government intelligence report leaked to the press in Washington during July 1982. The document implies that about 20 incidents had not been reported, citing alleged sabotage of electricity pylons in lightly populated areas of the northern Transvaal in January and February 1982. According to the document the pylons were repaired secretly to avoid publicity and further press restrictions were being considered by the South African government in the belief that press reports of guerilla actions benefit the ANC.
A number of other incidents took place during the year which appear to have been the work of guerillas or saboteurs but which were reported to be the result of accidents. In January 1982 a violent explosion at a Cape fertiliser plant caused extensive damage. Police and other security units sealed off all roads in the vicinity but the police commissioner said that 'it was most probably not sabotage'. ANC Radio Freedom from Addis Ababa said that sabotage by militants of Umkhonto we Sizwe could not be ruled out.
A transformer at the Germiston power station 'exploded' in January, plunging the city into darkness. Residents in the vicinity reported a 'massive blast' yet Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) officials explained the incident as a 'technical fault'.
A department store in Roodepoort and offices and printing equipment of an Afrikaner newspaper group in Johannesburg were destroyed by 'arsonists' in June, and fire caused serious damage at the Koeberg nuclear power station in July. Responsibility for the Koeberg fire was claimed by the ANC but ESCOM officials dismissed the claims and said that the fire was caused by an 'electrical fault'.
In August three Defence Force vehicles were burnt out and a fourth damaged when a series of explosions rocked the Umvoti Mounted Rifles camp at Red Hill, Durban. Residents nearby reported blasts and automatic rifle fire but SADF officials said police were 'investigating the possibility that the fire was started by petrol thieves'.
RESPONSE
Confident statements have been made on a number of occasions by security police on their capacity to cope with the armed struggle. They have, for example, claimed that they have solved about 90 per cent of the cases of 'terrorism' in the country and that the ANC would eventually be totally destroyed.
However, more pessimistic attitudes have been expressed by senior government and military figures. The expansion of the armed forces and the channelling of resources to meet internal resistance are consistent with such attitudes.
In spite of the widespread pattern of armed actions throughout South Africa, the government consistently claims that neighbouring countries are used as bases for the campaign, and has declared — and demonstrated in Maseru — its readiness to carry out military action against those countries.
During November the Minister of Law and Order alleged that there were 'strong indications' that the 'Russian embassy' in Lesotho played an important role in the insurgency campaign: in fact the Soviet Union does not have an embassy in Lesotho. The SADF raid on Maseru was the culmination of a war of words with the Lesotho government which had been going on for more than a year.
