Observed battle with ANC force
I AGREE with Historian’s observations (January 3) of the war in South Africa prior to democratic elections, where would-be soldiers typically claim victory for doing nothing. I can understand where he is coming from, but I do know of one battle that MK fought, because I was there.
This was the Battle of Wankie (now Hwange), fought in August 1967, on Rhodesian soil.
Whether the cadres were known as Umkhonto we Sizwe or not I don’t know, but they did represent the ANC.
They crossed the Zambezi River between Kazungula and Victoria Falls in mid-August 1967, heading for the Botswanan border, hoping to make it to South Africa. A few days later they were contacted in the Wankie Game Reserve where 29 of the band of 30 were killed by Rhodesian security forces.
The whole Rhodesian/Zambian border was patrolled daily, so any crossing would have been picked up within hours.
To be perfectly honest, I never fired a shot in anger during the battle, because I was in a nearby stop-group and noth- ing came our way. I did however listen to the whole contact on a military radio and can confirm that it was a complete rout.
We mopped up afterwards and all the bodies were taken to the mortuary in Wankie. The sole survivor was a friendly man named Sampson.
Whether this was his real name, his military alias or a pseudonym I cannot say. He spoke to us freely, admitting that the whole expedition had been folly, which it was.
However, this folly was, to me, a naive teenager, a demonstration of the difference between guerillas and terrorists, bearing in mind that guerillas fight while terrorists run. For 30 warriors, brazenly crossing 200-odd kilometres of hostile territory in transit to a more friendly country was sheer stupidity, but it was noble.
It identified them all to a man, as guerillas. After literally countless contacts in 13 years of war that I fought in Rhodesia, I can state that these 30 were the only “freedom fighters” I encountered who were not terrorists.
I sympathise with Historian and Ed- win van Rensburg, from the same letters page, because I also fought in a war where the victorious combatants were pushed aside by politicians. Not only did Robert Mugabe fail to fight in a war that he is credited with winning, but he never even visited troops at the front.
He chose to fight the war from plush offices in Maputo, Tripoli and London.
As with these two, I fought in a war where we never lost a single battle, but ultimately lost the war because of international politics.
The disastrous results of this political meddling are there for all to see in Zimbabwe, and well on their way to manifestation in South Africa.
I often wonder what happened to Sampson.
I hope he lived long enough to see the results of what he was prepared to give his life for.
He deserves this as much as any long-term Robben Island prisoner. I have the utmost respect for any soldier, from whatever side, prepared to lay down his life for a cause.