The Unveiling of SANDF's Dark Underbelly: Pule Nkomo's Story of Torture and Intimidation

South Africa's South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is embroiled in serious allegations of torture and extrajudicial intimidation. In a chilling account, Pule Nkomo, a former intelligence operative, narrates his brutal encounter with what he suspects were SANDF Special Forces. His story opens a Pandora's box of suspected illicit activities within the military and questions the ethical compass of its leadership.

In late 2019, a notorious burglary at an army base saw the theft of R4 rifles and pistols. Following this, Rear Admiral Mokgadi Maphoto formed a task team, including Major Doris Netshanzhe and Special Forces member Col Pinny Sunnybooi Wambi. This team, tasked with recovering the stolen weapons, stepped into a murky underworld of alleged sanctioned violence.

The story turned a darker shade with the interrogation turned fatal torture of a suspected informant and the assassination of Hawks investigator Lieutenant-Colonel Frans Mathipa, who was trailing Wambi in relation to a separate investigation regarding the abduction of Abdella Abadiga – alleged Islamist State financier.

Pule Nkomo's decision to abandon the intelligence sector in 2019 marked him for an ordeal that began in March 2020. Over six days, he describes being tortured while detained at Thaba Tshwane military base. Masked soldiers subjected him to waterboarding, suffocation, and beatings, leading to lasting injuries including impaired vision – practices reminiscent of the apartheid regime's dark tactics.

In a legal claim filed against the SANDF, Nkomo recounts how high-ranking officials, including then Lieutenant-General Lawrence Mbatha – now chief of the South African Army – and Maphoto allegedly oversaw and directed his assault. Faced with threats to his life, most notably a single bullet sent to his home, his tale evidences a resistance to scrutiny from within the military.

Despite detailed correspondence sent to implicated parties, a strong rebuttal has been filed, yet silence prevails on their acknowledgment of the events. Nkomo's account, bolstered by medical records and a medico-legal J88 form, paints a portrait of sanctioned violence and a potential cover-up within the ranks of SANDF.

Nkomo's association as an informant with National Crime Intelligence involves him in a convoluted narrative of weapon thefts and political conspiracies. After refusing to be part of a ploy to frame politicians for the weapons theft from Simon’s Town Naval Base, his resistance leads to his suffering.

The torture extends across days, reality blurring with sensations of near-death experiences and mock executions. Not even the intervention of a military chaplain offers Nkomo reprieve. Instead, he is coerced into confessing to having knowledge of the stolen weapons' whereabouts. The events leading up to Nkomo's release and his subsequent need to hide to safeguard his life sketch a sinister picture of unchecked power within the defence force.

Pule Nkomo's journey through the recesses of South Africa's intelligence world to a civilian seeking the truth reveals a possible emerging culture of intimidation and extrajudicial measures within South Africa's military.