Bush War

Come along on the special forces operation: sixteen highly trained operators go into the enemy’s lair to blow up the oil refinery in Luanda harbour. They lose one of their colleagues in an explosion, but the others return. They tell us their story.

Sonja Herholdt, André Schwartz, Karin Hougaard, Ollie Viljoen en Anneline Kriel were among artists and celebrities who visited the border to cheer and inspire the men. They tell their stories.

Ex-Koevoet members speak openly about being paid per head for every “terrorist” killed, about bodies draped over the wheels of a Casspir, and about the unit’s chilling efficiency.

In Ovamboland it was brother against brother: some chose to serve in the SADF, others fought for SWAPO. Among white people in South West a bitter political battle raged, among other things about opening amenities to all races. South Africa kept its fifth province on a short rein.

In the early eighties an average of 30 000 troops were “somewhere on the border”, at a series of camps deep in the bush, very far from home. At Fort Doppies they tamed a lion. Wenela had Gabi the zebra. At Calueque lived a tame crocodilte known as the flat dog.

One white boy chooses umKhonto we Sizwe over conscription, is trained in East Germany and ordered to plant a bomb. Another relates with bitterness and selfblame the impossible choices forced upon him by military service on the border.

Soldiers who were there, describe the precise planning, the courage of individuals and the chaos which is war. Women at home give an insight into the chasm that opened up between the home front and the front line.

On both sides of the divide heavier and beter arms are introduced and developed. South Africa plans the biggest conventional offensive in the whole of the bush war against the combined forces of Fapla, the Cubans and SWAPO.

A former Soviet official outlines the inflow of Soviet instructors and weaponry to SWAPO and Fapla. Added to Cuban support, this amplified their ability. 32 Batallion’s Portuguese-speaking Angolan members tell the story of the toughest battle in the history of the unit: Savate. And with Pres. Ronald Reagan taking over in the USA, “linkage” is introduced into the negotiations. The withdrawal of the Cubans is on the table.

The bush craft of SWAPO cadres is juxtaposed with that of Bushman soldiers. In an on-going quest for new answers to the challenges of the bush, dogs are employed against landmines and sophisticated military vehicles are developed. Science is complemented by another kind of knowledge: that of people for whom the bush is an open book.

A mother loses a son. One of so many mothers. One of so many sons. He was a parabat, who won the sought-after parachute wings with great pride. We hear his story from his mother and from the soldier in whose arms he died.

Cassinga remains one of the most controversial attacks in the 23 years of the war. We hear the story from all sides, told by people who were there. It also almost derailed the precarious negotiations around Resolution 435, a road map to independence for Namibia.

A live bomb is cut from a man’s chest ... the doctors tell the story. War means contact with the enemy, which means wounded and injured soldiers. In 1979 the SA Medical Service became the fourth leg of the Defence Force.

Controversial, respected, admired, hated ... under cover of secrecy the story of 32 Batallion with their buffalo insignia remains one of the most unique in the history of the bush war.

An unexpected withdrawal from Angola, and the beginning of resistance at home. The CIA loses the battle in the American Congress and the money tap is turned off. In South Africa someone refuses conscription for the very first time.

The guerrilla movement FNLA gets a bloody nose. Twenty six South African soldiers are stranded at Ambrizete, very far from the Namibian border and safety. The navy enters the bush war to pick them up, thousands of kilometres north of Cape Town.

An innocent term like “clean out” still haunts some of the soldiers. In this episode engineers build a bridge under heavy fire, and hundreds die in the African sun.

How does a man from the Cape Flats end up in the Cuban army in Angola? November 1975. Angola gains independence. Civil war breaks out. America, the USSR, Cuba and South Africa get involved – the beginning of a drawn-out battle for especially the latter two. We get the perspective of Generals Jannie Geldenhuys and Constand Viljoen, American negotiator Chester Crocker, former Russian president Michael Gorbachev, former Minister Pik Botha and SWAPO’s Charles Namoloh. A South African-led task force covers 3 000 km in southern Angola in 33 days. We see the bloody battles around the village of Ebo through the eyes of soldiers and commanders who were there.

SWAPO and the MPLA were supported by Moscow. We meet a number of Soviet soldiers who fought in Angola. We investigate the conviction shared by so many South Africans in the seventies and eighties, that we were threatened on every side by communists. Photo comics had Russians as bad guys. The church published anti-communist literature. “Rooi Gevaar” was an everyday term. On the other side we hear the story of a Moscow family whose grandfather fought in the Anglo-Boer War.

An unconventional war demands an unconventional reaction. South Africa founds a unique counter to the guerrilla onslaught. We paint a portrait of the elite soldiers who would become known as the recces. The founder of these units, Jan Breytenbach, and ten others who could never before speak about their work deep in enemy territory, tell their stories.

While white South Africa supports apartheid against the background of the Cold War and boys of eighteen do not question conscription, Radio Freedom broadcasts a message of freedom to young people in Namibia. They too take up arms, leaving rural Ovamboland to go and train in snow-covered Moscow. A guerrilla war starts. We sketch the two worlds soldiers on opposite sides of the Bush War came from.

We find the first SWAPO cadre ever to cross the border with a weapon. A tale is told of the first clash between South African forces and insurgents in Northern Namibia in 1966. Some of those who fought on either side forty years ago, tell their stories. We sketch the background: Harold MacMillan gives his “Winds of Change” speech. Africa wins independence – except in the south. SWAPO is born out of resistance to migrant labour.