Identity
Person No.
31524
Old ROH no.
35152
Service No.
Unknown
Last Name
First Name
Nthatheni
Initials
N
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
34
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
Unknown
Cause of Death
Died fighting a veld fire at SAP training centre near Ellisras
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Sergeant
Regiment
5 Special Forces Regiment 20
Formerly
5 Reconnaissance Regiment
(1995)
Unit
5 Reconnaissance Regiment 9
Later renamed
5 Special Forces Regiment
(1995)
Defence Force
SANDF 1,025
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
Special Forces (Reconnaissance)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Part of
5 Special Forces Regiment operates as one of the standing/permanent operational regiments of South African Special Forces, established from the same 1972 lineage as 1 Reconnaissance Commando. Special Forces are their own branch within the SANDF, not part of the Army.
Awards
Military Merit Medal (MMM)
South Africa
Listed with this post-nominal on the SASFA In Memoriam PDF. https://www.recce.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/4.1.-Memoriam.pdf
Notes
From Thohoyandou
Research notes
SASFA In Memoriam (operators): confirmed Special Forces operator. SASFA: Makumbane Nthatheni MMM KIO 2002. https://www.recce.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/4.1.-Memoriam.pdf
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" was CLEARED as a duplicate. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word repeating what the Branch column already says. Secondary Unit is for sub-units -- a company, a squadron, a commando -- and this record's branch of service is unchanged at "Army".
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 13 Aug 2026: 5 Recce veld fire Verdrag (cleared Depot).
-
Mike Sandham
Mike Sandham 14 Aug 2026: ServiceNo 662465 incorrect (shared pollution; rohsa PN 31524).
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
Unit veterans association
open source ↗
SASFA In Memoriam: Makumbane Nthatheni MMM KIO 2002 — confirmed Special Forces operator
Stories 1
PRETORIA Fifth SANDF soldier dies after fire Fri, 23 Aug 2002 A fifth SA National Defence Force soldier has died of burn wounds sustained during a veld fire at a police training area in Limpopo, the SANDF said on Friday.
Major GS Zulu (45) died on Thursday night at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria, a statement said. He is survived by his wife, Happy Zulu. Five people died after fighting a blaze at the police Special Task Force's Verdrag urban anti-terrorist training area near Lephalale (Ellisras) last Tuesday. Two soldiers died on the day of the fire and a third died in hospital later that night. They were Warrant Officer Elias Viva Vavarirai (46) of Namakgale near Ba-Phalaborwa in Limpopo, Sergeant Nthatheni Makumbane (34) of Thohoyandou, and Sergeant Bongani Andries Nkwanyana (39) of Babanango in KwaZulu-Natal. The fourth man, Corporal B Mathebula (26) of Giyani, died in hospital at the weekend. All were from 5 SF Regiment, based at Ba-Phalaborwa. The soldiers and police were conducting a final training exercise for the World Summit on Sustainable Development that starts on Monday.
Major GS Zulu (45) died on Thursday night at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria, a statement said. He is survived by his wife, Happy Zulu. Five people died after fighting a blaze at the police Special Task Force's Verdrag urban anti-terrorist training area near Lephalale (Ellisras) last Tuesday. Two soldiers died on the day of the fire and a third died in hospital later that night. They were Warrant Officer Elias Viva Vavarirai (46) of Namakgale near Ba-Phalaborwa in Limpopo, Sergeant Nthatheni Makumbane (34) of Thohoyandou, and Sergeant Bongani Andries Nkwanyana (39) of Babanango in KwaZulu-Natal. The fourth man, Corporal B Mathebula (26) of Giyani, died in hospital at the weekend. All were from 5 SF Regiment, based at Ba-Phalaborwa. The soldiers and police were conducting a final training exercise for the World Summit on Sustainable Development that starts on Monday.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.