November 3rd, 2021

‘Independence’ of ‘Zimbabwe’ 1980

International Economic Sanctions
External Pressures (South Africa and OAU)
Internal Settlement 1978 – Bishop Abel Muzorewa
Lancaster House 1979
Independence 1980/Free Election
ZANU-PF – Mugabe, election results overturned
ZAPU – Nkomo
ZDF
Gukurahundi 1981-87 – reign of terror (“Gukurahundi” – the rain that washes away the trash) the
purges of ZAPU and their ethnic minority opponents in the southwest of the country

The whites were promised that there would be no forced land redistribution.

South Africa’s ‘Border War’ (1966-89) – SWA

The Namibian Independence Movement
Namibia is a very dry country, especially in the centre and the south. The more densely
populated part is up in the north.

South West Africa (Namibia)

Union of South Africa 1910
Genocide of Herero and Nama 1904-7
South West Africa – First World War
League of Nations Mandate
Apartheid 1948
UN Trusteeship? (SWA was technically turned into a UN trustee territory but South Africa
rejected this)
Windhoek Massacre 1959 – the South Africans were trying to evict some people, who resisted,
and got shot. This event shifted the independence movement pretty quickly from peaceful to an
armed struggle.

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SWANU – did not last long past the early sixties and did not want to engage in an armed
struggle and was not very good at attracting international support.
SWAPO – People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) 1962 (Zambia – Tanzania – Soviet
Union) – enthusiastically engaged in armed struggle, in contrast to SWANU. Main support base
was in the northern part.
Sam Nujoma

Insurgency in SWA – Phase I (1966-75)

Portuguese Angola
Botswana
Zambia
Caprivi Strip
Ovamboland – Set up a small base of operations to try and use to expand militarily in the area,
but they had a very hard time of it.
Omgulumbashe 1966 – The South Africans found out about the staging area SWAPO had set up,
and they sent a combined arms offensive of paratroopers and police.
Landmines

This went even worse for the insurgents than it did for the ones in Rhodesia. They had a very
hard time infiltrating as Angola was hostile territory; and Botswana was not super friendly either,
as they were extremely economically dependent on Rhodesia and South Africa (and Western
nations in general). The border area is in the Kalahari Desert, and they do share a land border
with their main partner, Zambia, but it is very small.

Insurgency in SWA – Phase II (1975-89)

Angolan Independence 1974-5
SADF intervention – Op. Savannah 1975
MPLA – Cuba – Soviet Union
PLAN – late 1970s – liberated areas – farm attacks
1980s – PLAN limited to Ovamboland (South African COIN gets a lot more serious in the late
70s, largely because of what is happening with Rhodesia).

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“Summer Games” – because, in summer it is the rainy season, and there is more water in the
bush to live on, SWAPO is able to infiltrate Ovamboland.

South African COIN

SAP and SADF
31 ‘Bushmen’ Battalion – one of the two first black battalions, both of which were recruited
from nationalist Angolans in exile
32 Battalion – the other one of the two first black battalions
SWATF 1980
Mine Resistant Vehicles (Buffel – Casspir)
‘Yati’ – cutlines (certain parts of bush are taken out and cut flat; purpose was to monitor
infiltration by insurgents)
Koevoet – Afrikaans for ‘crowbar’; this word was used as they wanted to pry away the
insurgents from the civilians. Koevoet was a police unit, NOT a military unit.
101 Battalion – carbon copy of the Koevoet created by the military
SWASPES
No “protected villages” – memories of the Second Anglo-Boer War
Cross-border Ops

Tracking and Counter-Tracking

Up to 1974, all COIN ops in SWA are undertaken by SAP. Then, when the government in
Angola changed, the SADF was called in.

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