The Colour of Gold (18 page)

"And if they
travel through Soweto and leave on the eastern side?" the Brigadier
asked.

"If they travel
at sixty kilometres an hour, and allowing for stop streets, they
should be on the outskirts or just out of Soweto when the bomb goes
off." Tiaan said.

"Good." the
Brigadier said. "Anyway, regardless of where the bomb goes off the
press won't be able to blame us. As far as we're concerned the bomb
was one of the A.N.C.'s and it must have gone off prematurely."

"Yes." Tiaan
said. "The press will find it impossible to prove otherwise."

***

The little
yellow car rocked significantly as Moses and Peter climbed in. They
closed the doors quietly. Peter glanced at the luminous dial of his
watch.

"It's quarter
to one." He said. "Assuming there aren't any hold-ups we should be
at Shadow's place by ten to."

Moses nodded
and started the car. Slowly he reversed the vehicle down the narrow
driveway between the shacks and out into the rutted street, the car
lurching in the deep potholes. As he drove away he switched on the
parking lights exposing the uneven roadway and the little dark
houses on each side of the road. Suddenly Peter leant back and ran
his hand along the floor behind the front seats.

"Where are the
grenades?" he asked. "There's nothing on the floor."

Moses slapped
his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Oh, my God!"
he exclaimed. "They're still in the shack! We'd better go back!
Shadow'll be furious if we get there without them!"

Moses did a
U-turn at the next intersection and drove back to the shack.

"Where are
they?" Peter asked as he opened his door.

"They're under
my bed." Moses said.

Peter hurried
away and Moses waited in the darkness. Peter returned out of
breath. He climbed into the car.

"Okay, let's
go." He said. "I've only brought two grenades but that should be
enough. We don't want to waste them."

The little
yellow car drove off.

"We're still on
time." Peter said as he glanced at his watch. "It's ten to
one."

***

Shadow stood in
the darkness outside his shack, the three AK 47's slung over his
shoulder. He had carefully loaded the magazines of each of the
weapons and put three spare magazines in his jacket pocket. He
waited impatiently for the sound of the approaching vehicle even
though it was only ten to one. Suddenly he saw the parking lights
of a vehicle turn into the street leading to where he stood. He saw
the lights go out as the vehicle got closer and then, to his
horror, the little vehicle burst into flames followed immediately
by a loud dull bang. Flames enveloped the vehicle as it lurched to
a stop and silhouetted against the light shadow saw Moses and Peter
slumped forward over the wrecked dashboard of the car. A large
fireball erupted as the petrol tank exploded, followed by two
smaller explosions that ripped the passenger's side of the vehicle
to pieces. The flames receded and silence returned to the dark
city.

Shadow pursed
his lips as he realised what had happened. The white security
forces must have got to the car and planted a bomb inside. There
was no other reason for the explosion. Slowly he turned and walked
back into his shack.

***

Isaiah Zuma
wandered through the downtown area of Maseru looking for any sign
that would indicate the presence of the A.N.C. He couldn't get used
to the fact that he didn't have to be wary of being accosted by the
police at any moment. There were no apartheid laws in Lesotho and,
even though he had entered the tiny country without the necessary
documents, thousands of black South African's did so almost every
day without being harassed by the authorities.

Eventually
Isaiah decided to ask for directions. Again he had to remind
himself that he was no longer in South Africa and making enquiries
about the A.N.C.'s whereabouts wouldn't arouse suspicion and lead
to him being taken into custody. The African National Congress
wasn't a banned organisation in Lesotho as it was in South Africa.
He began to look for a policeman and soon came across two uniformed
officers in a parked police car near a busy intersection.

"Excuse me."
Isaiah said to the policeman sitting in the passenger's seat with
his window open. "Can you please direct me to the headquarters of
the African National Congress in Maseru?"

"They don't
have an official office here." the policeman replied. "But if you
go to Maseru East near the airport someone will be able to help
you."

Isaiah thanked
the man and began walking towards the airport. It felt strange to
be walking freely in a city without the fear of being harassed by
the police. The lack of hostility by the policeman that he'd spoken
to was alien to him.

Although he
felt desperately tired, having not slept at all the previous night,
Isaiah felt that he could not afford to waste any time. The A.N.C.
might want to train him in the use of explosives and perhaps even
an automatic rifle and this would take time. Also, the sooner he
got back to Deep Reef Gold Mine, the sooner he could get his
business going.

The suburb of
Maseru East was a rundown collection of small houses and shacks and
although most of the roads were tarred they were heavily pitted
with large potholes. Isaiah asked several other pedestrians about
the presence of the A.N.C. in the suburb and eventually found
himself in front of a small non-descript brick dwelling with a
black corrugated iron roof. A rough pathway led through the
weed-strewn front yard to a brown wooden door. Isaiah knocked and
waited.

After waiting
several minutes Isaiah noticed the curtains in the front room move
aside and a black man peered out at him. He raised his right hand
in greeting. The man left the window and Isaiah heard several locks
being undone before the door swung open. The man, dressed in
camouflage trousers and a green and yellow T-shirt with the A.N.C.
logo printed on it in black looked at Isaiah with his eyebrows
raised.

"Can I help
you?" he asked.

"I'm looking
for the headquarters of the African National Congress." Isaiah
said.

"What do you
want with them?" the man asked.

"I'm from South
Africa and I want to join." Isaiah said. "I also have a proposition
that I would like to put to them."

"Have you got
any identification?" the man asked.

Isaiah handed
the man his passbook and the forged letters. The man studied them
carefully.

"Are these
letters genuine?" he asked.

"No, they're
forged." Isaiah replied.

"What's in the
suitcase?" the man asked.

"My clothing."
Isaiah said.

"Please open
it, take everything out and hand it to me." the man said.

Isaiah removed
his clothing and toiletries from the suitcase and handed it to the
man in the doorway. The man inspected the case carefully, measuring
the inside and the outside to see that it didn't have a false
bottom. Once he was satisfied that the container held no danger he
gave it back to Isaiah who placed his belongings in it and closed
it.

"Come in." the
man said. "You understand that we have to be very careful. Our
enemies are constantly trying to kill us."

Isaiah nodded,
picked up the suitcase and walked into the dimly-lit house. He
followed the man along a short passageway and into a small well-lit
room. A black man sat behind a desk in the centre of the room. He
looked up as Isaiah entered.

"Comrade CH."
the man said as he glanced down at Isaiah's passbook. "This is
Isaiah Zuma. He's come here in the hope of joining the organisation
and also has a proposition to put to us."

The man behind
the desk stood up. Isaiah noticed that he also wore camouflage
pants and an A.N.C. T-shirt.

"Welcome,
Isaiah." the man said. "You must understand that we use code
letters for names here for security reasons. So I'm comrade CH and
this man is comrade LM. From now on you'll be known as comrade IZ.
You must also understand that admission to MK doesn't require any
educational standards, the same as most other liberation armies.
Our only requirements are that you must be against apartheid and
you must have enough courage to take up arms. MK is a purely
volunteer army. Is has no mercenaries and no paid or conscripted
soldiers. It consists of the sons and daughters of our oppressed
people. Recruits are sent to our training schools in other
countries and then sent on missions into South Africa. Do you
accept that?"

Isaiah
nodded.

"Yes. I accept
what you've told me." he said. "However, I believe that I can be of
more use to MK than simply becoming a soldier."

"Yes?" comrade
CH said. "What is your proposal?"

"I work at the
Deep Reef Gold Mine in Johannesburg as a lasher boy." Isaiah said.
"The mine uses large amounts of explosives and it is very careless
with it. It is very easy for black miners to steal the dynamite.
Many do steal it and sell it to dealers in Johannesburg. My
proposal is that, as an A.N.C. cadre, I steal explosives for MK. I
believe that it would be much easier for MK to make its own bombs
rather than smuggle them into the country."

Mister CH
raised his eyebrows.

"That's very
interesting." he said. "We have considered this but have not been
able to find a suitable supplier. Are you already stealing
explosives?"

"Yes." Isaiah
said. "At the moment though, I'm only supplying a small group of
illegal miners in Johannesburg."

"So, apart from
these illegal miners, nobody else knows what you're doing?" comrade
CH asked.

"The only other
person that knows what I'm doing is a fellow worker at the mine.
He's prepared to work with me." Isaiah said. "I trust him, though.
He won't betray us."

"If we go along
with your proposal it would have to be on condition that, apart
from the illegal miners, you will not supply anyone else with
explosives and that nobody, apart from your fellow-worker, must
know what you're doing." comrade CH said.

"Yes." Isaiah
said.

"Okay." comrade
CH said. "We will need several days to consider your proposal. In
the mean time you can stay here in this house. Would you be
prepared to undergo a training course in how to make explosive
devices and then help our cadres in the field when you get back to
South Africa? We would also give you a short course on how to use
an AK47 automatic rifle."

"Yes." Isaiah
said. "But I must be back at the mine within the time stipulated in
those letters."

"I understand."
comrade CH said. "That should be possible. In the mean time comrade
LM will see that your stay here is as comfortable as possible."

It took the
leadership of Umkhonto weSizwe or MK, four days to ratify Isaiah's
membership and his proposition to supply explosives to the
organisation. A price for his services was also reached although it
was less than he had hoped for. He also undertook not to supply
anyone else with explosives except Paul's team of illegal
miners.

Isaiah also
agreed to undergo a course of instruction on how to manufacture
pipe bombs and use an AK47 rifle and to help MK members build the
bombs. An explosives expert was flown in from Mozambique and the
instruction courses took three days. By the time Isaiah slipped
back over the border into South Africa and began his return journey
to Johannesburg he was a fully-fledged member of Umkhonto weSizwe
and an expert in manufacturing pipe bombs.

***

Shadow watched
as, first the police, and then the Security Police inspected the
burnt out shell of the yellow Mazda 323 in which Moses and Peter
had died. His anger and hatred rose as he listened to the white
policemen laughing and joking as they probed the shattered and
blackened car. One of the security policemen, a man in a light blue
safari suit, looked vaguely familiar but Shadow couldn't place him.
Eventually the police left and the residents had to move the wreck
themselves to clear the street so that other vehicles could pass.
It was obvious that the bodies of Moses and Peter had been
incinerated although Shadow suspected that pieces of bone and other
material had been retrieved by the police forensic personnel for
possible identification later.

Shadow felt
sick as he thought of the death of his two friends and fellow
comrades. They had been good men who hated the ideology of
apartheid and had been prepared to sacrifice their lives to free
their people from the yoke of domination. He vowed that he would do
everything in his power to avenge his friend's deaths and bring
freedom to his people. Like Moses and Peter he was prepared to die
to achieve this.

The following
day Shadow found a coded letter in the secret drop-box that he used
to communicate with his superiors. It was from comrade CH in
Maseru. He tucked it into his shoe and went back to his shack where
he laboriously decoded it.

"Comrade JM,"
it read. "We have recruited Comrade IZ who lives and works on the
Deep Reef Gold Mine. He will be supplying you with explosives
stolen from the mine. He has been trained in the making of
explosive devices such as pipe bombs and will work with you towards
the destruction of our enemies. He has been instructed to be at the
Orlando East beer hall this coming Saturday afternoon and will be
wearing a red baseball cap with a white feather in it. We have
agreed on a price and will send you funds once you have received
the explosives. "

Shadow burnt
the piece of paper and ground the ashes into the ground outside his
shack with the heel of his shoe. Together with comrade IZ he would
begin to fight back in earnest. He was due for a really successful
mission. The attack on the Westdene police station was
chicken-feed. He and comrade IZ would do something that would shake
the whole world.