In his well-researched book Askari, Jacob Dlamini investigates why comrades (from different liberation movements) became traitors. These are the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives and families to fight the evil of apartheid.
But at the end they collaborated with the enemy and helped capture, torture and even kill their own comrades.
According to Dlamini, when comrades were caught by the security branch, they were given two options: to live or die. Few chose to die. Those who chose life did so at a price: they had to give the enemy information about their comrades.
The late Glory Sedibe, who was a freedom fighter turned askari, was caught in Swaziland by the South African Police. He believed the liberation movement (ANC) betrayed him – that’s what the enemy told him. As a result, he sold out many comrades, including the Musis (Zando and Mbulelo) from Kagiso.
The enemy knew how to “turn” (as Dlamini put it) comrades into traitors. They had their own intelligence and knew the weakness of their victims (freedom fighters), which they exploited to their advantage when they caught them.
Those who had a weakness for the bottle (alcohol) were easily turned. And so did those who loved money more than the freedom they were fighting for. Others were forced to turn through torture. How cruel!
The other point that the Askari author made in passing was that there were also women askaris. We know more about male askaris such as Butana Nofemela and Joe Mamasela who worked with Eugene de Kock at the notorious Vlakplaas. But we know less, if not nothing, about female collaborators.
Dlamini wrote that there were less than 10 women collaborators at Vlakplaas. These women, few as they were, also sold out many comrades. Some of the freedom fighters lost their precious lives and others were apprehended as a result of the information they gave the enemy.
The point the author tried to make, though in passing, was that there is less focus on the role played by women in collaborating with the enemy. Though they were few, the role they played as collaborators had a debilitating effect on the struggle against apartheid.
The author’s approach to the book is neutral and objective. He is not in the business of condemning the traitors.
Instead, he explains how the enemy turned comrades against each other with the aim of derailing the struggle against apartheid.
