Identity
Person No.
29483
Service No.
87771515KV
Last Name
First Name
Elias Thato
Initials
E T
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
38
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
SUIC 382
Suicide
Cause of Death
Committed suicide, shot himself in the head after an unsuccessful attempt to take Headquarters personnel hostage over a grievance, before he could be taken into custody
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
Unit
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SANDF 1,021
South African National Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Role at time of death
Infantry (area defence)
Status
Commando (Area Bound Reserve)
Part of
SADF Commando System
category
Part of
Generic Regiment-field text used across hundreds of records whose actual unit is a specific local Commando (e.g. Rustenburg Commando, Boksburg Commando -- captured in Unit). Post-WWII, "Commando" is its own force-component category alongside Regular/Permanent Force and Active Citizen Force -- area-bound, part-time reserve units tied to a specific district, mobilised for local counter-insurgency/area protection duties during the Border War era. Not a single regiment; this Status applies to the whole category.
Notes
Husband of Mrs. L. E. Bokhatsi
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 14 Aug 2026: East Park Commando (was 1 Para).
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
Stories
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Dedications
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