Gangster State

defended Mandela and his fellow accused in the Rivonia Trial in
1963 – 64 , and he would later become South Africa’s chief justice. In
the 1980 s, Matthew was making his own mark as a lawyer, and his
home would sometimes be used as a temporary place of shelter for
activists.
‘Ace was the leader of this group of people from Parys who were now
on the run because of the state of emergency,’ Chaskalson remembered.
‘They were sleeping on the floor at my house for a couple of days, and
I was trying to find them more permanent accommodation.’
Eventually, Chaskalson found an apartment for Magashule and some
of his associates in Hillbrow. ‘I paid the first month’s rent, and after
that I didn’t really see much of Ace again,’ he recalled. ‘He was an
enterprising guy, so he soon tapped into other sources of funding to
sustain himself.’
This marked the start of Magashule’s time in ‘internal exile’ in
Johannesburg, which would last from mid- 1986 to 1989. One source
who was at Magashule’s side during this period said the group did start
functioning as an MK unit, and did report to the top brass.
‘This was a difficult time for the entire movement, also for the
underground structures,’ this source told me. ‘The government
crackdown that came with the states of emergency disrupted
everything, so we had to make other plans ... We were instructed by
Chris Hani, Mbeki and Tshwete to operate from Johannesburg because
things were too hot on the ground in rural areas like the Free State.’
But their contact with these leaders was infrequent. My source
admitted that they only met with the top leadership on about two
occasions at the ANC’s Zambian headquarters in Lusaka. He said their
unit’s main task was ‘coordination’, which included facilitating