Bhekumusi Gabriel "Sifiso" Nkabinde was a South African politician and alleged warlord in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
19 Facts About Sifiso Nkabinde
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Sifiso Nkabinde represented the African National Congress in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1994 until 1997.
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Sifiso Nkabinde was expelled from the ANC in April 1997 for his alleged role in fomenting political violence, as well as on suspicion of having been an informant for the apartheid regime.
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Sifiso Nkabinde subsequently joined the opposition United Democratic Movement and was the party's national secretary-general until his assassination in January 1999.
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Sifiso Nkabinde was born on 24 June 1961 in Richmond in the former Natal province.
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Sifiso Nkabinde's father was a policeman and later became the chairman of the local branch of Inkatha.
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Sifiso Nkabinde matriculated in 1977 and subsequently trained as a teacher at Ndaleni Teachers Training College.
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Sifiso Nkabinde joined the United Democratic Front in 1989 and when the apartheid government unbanned the African National Congress the following year, he was elected chairman of the ANC's Richmond branch.
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Sifiso Nkabinde was notorious for his involvement in organising and arming self-defence units, informal paramilitary bodies that were frequently involved in murderous clashes between ANC and Inkatha members during the political violence of the 1990s.
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Sifiso Nkabinde established a self-defence unit in Richmond which the Truth and Reconciliation Commission later found was one of the largest in the country; in addition to being powerful in the Midlands, it garnered support and carried out operations elsewhere in Natal.
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In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Sifiso Nkabinde was elected to represent the ANC in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature.
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At the party's provincial elective conference in December 1996, Sifiso Nkabinde lost the election to the leadership's favoured candidate, Sipho Gcabashe, but was elected as an ordinary member of the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee; by number of votes received, he ranked sixth of the 13 elected candidates.
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Sifiso Nkabinde denied the allegations, arguing that his political popularity was perceived as threatening to ANC leaders and that he was being punished for having contested the Provincial Secretary election.
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Sifiso Nkabinde was recruited by Captain J T Pieterse and his task was to monitor political activists and inform the police about the movements of Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres.
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An extract from a Security Branch file on source SR 4252 outlines information obtained from Bhekumusi Gabriel Sifiso Nkabinde, which is Sifiso Nkabinde's full name.
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Sifiso Nkabinde faced 16 murder charges and two charges of incitement to murder.
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On 23 January 1999, Sifiso Nkabinde was assassinated while leaving a shop in Richmond.
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Sifiso Nkabinde was shot 23 times by four gunmen, who apparently carried weapons stolen from the Pietermaritzburg police station.
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Sifiso Nkabinde was married to Nonhlanhla Nkabinde, who represented the UDM in Parliament after his death.