Bushmen Soldiers: The History of 31, 201 & 203 Battalions During the Border War 1974-90

By Ian Uys

The Bushman soldiers were the most outstanding all-round fighters of the Border War. As the first of the indigenous population to take up arms on South Africa's behalf, they were among the last to lay them down. The border's oldest and most bush-wise people, they became feared as relentless trackers and dedicated soldiers.

Coming from a primitive hunter/gatherer culture, they responded well to a crash course in modern warfare. Their use of automatic weapons and mortars, coupled with their phenomenal tracking abilities, made them a formidable fighting force.

During Operation Savannah they were deployed in a conventional role as Battle-Group Alpha, part of Task Force Zulu, and advanced approximately 2,000 kilometers in a month. Afterwards, some of the Bushmen were trained as parachutists and served as Recces behind enemy lines. Others were attached to various units as trackers and guides.

Their loyalty and bravery was recognized in the award of Honoris Crux decorations to members and former members of this elite corps. Controversy followed the battalion to South Africa after the war. Persecuted for centuries, the Bushmen have displayed an uncanny ability to survive and have adapted remarkably well to the modern world.

Their transition from the Stone Age in less than 20 years is a story, which will never be forgotten. Hailed as the 'Gurkhas of Africa' the Bushmen have proved themselves second to none.

This is an exceptional record of 31 and 201 Battalions and their remarkable personnel, fully illustrated with many photographs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Release date: Jul 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781910294925

Book preview

Prologue

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

(Revelations 22 verse 13).

When Cmdt Delville Linford suggested the name Omega for the camp alongside Alpha Camp he little realised how apt it was. The recruitment of the Bushmen into the SADF was something new for both South Africans and Bushmen. Never before had the Bushmen been officially enrolled in the SA armed forces – other than as occasional guides. It was a beginning for the Bushmen as well, a new way of life opened before them. All the benefits and drawbacks of modern civilisation were suddenly thrust upon them.

By the same token it was the Omega to the Bushmen – the end of their primitive, innocent hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Not only did their original traditions die but, with the disbandment of the battalion, the first – or army – phase of their move into the Western world ended.

One cannot prophecy what the future holds for these unique people; one can but hope that they will succeed in adapting to the troublous world they live in today. The innate qualities of the Bushmen, their toughness and will to survive, coupled with their shrewdness and dignity will stand them in good stead.

Having visited the Bushmen on numerous occasions and spoken with those closely associated with them, I have come away with a great respect for them. A people who have been persecuted for centuries, who have had their lives completely changed and have been in the forefront of a debilitating war for the past 20 years, yet show no signs of stress, are a remarkable and unique race indeed.

This book has been written largely from personal reminiscences of the people involved with the Bushman battalions. The names of some members of the unit have been changed for security reasons. I have taken my cue from Revelations 1:11: ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book’.

1

Alpha – the Beginning

What can turn primitive, friendly people into dedicated and professional soldiers? The answer must lie in their own psyche – their way of life and beliefs. Without trying to change this, but by substituting the environment within which they operate and live, the SADF succeeded in turning stone-age hunters into modern soldiers. Instead of the clan and the hunt, the Bushmen had the battalion and the war.

The !Kung Bushmen’s concept of his origin is simple. Kxau was the first man on earth, created by the god !Khu, who gave him a wife, Zan. When evil came to the world !Khu promised that he would care for Kxau and his family. To ensure their survival he gave them poison arrows to hunt, reeds for sucking up water and sticks to dig for roots.

They clung to their traditional style of life for aeons, a nomadic lifestyle with their legends and superstitions. They wore skins of animals, ostrich shell beads and danced and sang around their campfires at night.

By nature submissive and polite, the Bushmen only wanted to be left alone – to hunt small game with their bows and poisoned arrows, traps and spears, to dig for edible roots and live in their small bands of up to 30 people.

10,000 years ago they had migrated into southern Africa and mixed amicably with the Hottentots (Khoi Khoi). Then, 400 years ago, the Bantu came with their herds of cattle, to be followed by the white farmers who farmed and hunted.

The Bushmen retreated before the power of these newcomers. Unable to understand the concept of ownership and possessions they occasionally killed cattle to feed on. In return they reaped a whirlwind of retribution – and were hunted like vermin.

In many areas whole clans of Bushmen were ruthlessly exterminated – or enslaved by the blacks and ‘indentured’ as forced labour by the whites. From the Cape they fled into the deserts of Botswana and Namibia, whereas in Natal they hid in the Drakensberg mountains. Everywhere they left their trademark – their primitive and beautiful rock paintings and etchings.

In the 1950s it was estimated that there were 50,000 Bushmen in all territories, of whom 4,000 were in Angola. Bushmen and Hottentots had freely intermarried and Hottentots were considered by Bushmen to be of their own kin. They have similar mongoloid features; the oblique eyes, set-apart cheekbones, sparse hair and adhering ear-lobes. They are grouped together by anthropologists under the common name Hottentot-Bushmen or Khoi-San.

The two types were the Yellow Bushmen (Kwankhala and Sekela) and the Black Bushmen (Zama or Kwengo). Whereas the black Zama are tall and well built, the Sekela are small and slight. The Zama originally lived in the Cuando and Okavango area end were referred to as ‘Water Bushmen’ (Baraquena). They have three clicks in their language and are culturally akin to the Va-Sekela (Vasequela). Sometimes they intermarry, as long as both partners are of identical cultural development.

The Baraquenas often have more than one wife, whereas the yellow !Kung are monogamous. Adultery is punished by a heavy fine. The parents’ love for their children is one of the most impressive manifestations of Bushmen. They pay special attention to their children, who are accordingly well-nourished.

An intelligent, bright people, they learn quickly and adapt themselves to their surroundings. Generally despised by most blacks, in Angola they roamed the plains and forests, hunting and gathering as best they could.

The Harmless People

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas in her book The Harmless People gives reasons for the Kalahari Bushmen’s natural submissiveness. ‘One reason is that it is not in their nature to fight, nor in their experience to deal with people other than themselves.’ Bushmen deplore and misunderstand bravery. The heroes of their legends are always little jackals who trick, lie and narrowly escape, rather than larger bolder animals such as lions…

Bushmen cannot afford to fight with each other and almost never do, because their only real weapon is the arrow poison, for which there is no antidote … Their hold on life is too tenuous to permit quarrelling among themselves. A Bushman will go to any lengths to avoid making other Bushmen jealous of him …

The other reason for their submissiveness is that Bushmen are overwhelmed by the possessions of Bantus and Europeans … as well as their enormous sizes, heavy necks and arms, great beards and roaring voices … Europeans are beyond the Bushmen’s imagination.

She relates that an old Bushman told a story that originally all people were one, but the great god came to earth and gave a rope, half made of riem (ox hide) and half of grass fibres. The people were told to pull on the rope – the Bushmen came away with the grass, whereas the Bantus came away with the riem, thereafter the Bushmen had only the things of the veld whereas the Bantus had cattle and other things.

So the distinction between them arose. The Bushmen only wanted to be left in peace and were frightened of other people. !Kung Bushmen refer to strangers as ‘Zhu dole’, which means ‘dangerous persons’ and themselves as ‘Zhu twa si’, the harmless people.

The Bushmen’s fight for survival changed. His bow and arrow, spear and stick are useless weapons in a changing world which rides roughshod over the apparently defenceless.

The persecution of the Bushmen was to continue until recent times. Up until 1975 the SWA statute books offered 5 Pounds for Bushmen’s ears. In the mid-1960s the Odendaal Commission recommended to the SWA Government that Western Caprivi and Bushmanland be designated as homelands for the Bushmen. This meant the loss of a vast area of land traditionally used by them and signalled an end to the ‘hunter-gatherer’ lifestyle of SWA Bushmen. The same had happened in the Kalahari Gemsbok Park. In 1968 the Western Caprivi was expropriated as a game reserve and the people evicted.

Tribal Lore

All Vasequelas say that their predecessors came from the south and were pushed north because of wars. They were few and only had bows and arrows, whereas the other people were more and had rifles. A Vasequela, Mattheus Manango, said that his grandfather’s grandfather was at a place in the south, where the blacks fought against each other with spears and shields. At some stage the whites came and stopped the fighting. They were content then, but always expected another war to break out, which in fact did happen – they moved northwards, along the eastern border of SWA and settled near Mpupa. That’s where he was born. The Finnish missionaries built a school at Diribi. They heard about this, so moved there in about 1960. The Finnish gave cattle and ploughs to the Bushmen and taught them to cultivate the land. Up to then they had been nomadic people who lived only on hunting. They knew nothing of SWAPO, but were told by the Portuguese that there were bad blacks who used pangas, knobkieries and grenades, and that they wanted to use them against these people.

Vasequela Bushmen of southern Angola. (CITA)

The Fighting Arrows

The Portuguese used black troops as militia in various strategic settlements and by the end of the war in 1974 there were about 30,000. They were regarded as necessary for defence against nationalist guerrillas, yet only approximately 10 percent were armed, for fear that they might defect to the enemy. The majority were issued with wooden models of rifles and sticks to train with and used bows and arrows and spears in combat.

The nationalists, however, rarely attacked the settlements unless provoked, betrayed or assaulted themselves. When the local militia did confront the guerrillas they were usually no match against the better armed and trained nationalists.

The blacks in the militia should not be confused with those who served in the Portuguese regular army or the famed ‘Grupos Especais’ or the ‘Flechas’ (Arrows) – who were specially trained auxiliary forces attached to the secret police, the PIDE or DGS. The Flechas had the reputation of being the best counter-insurgency troops on offensive missions.

Cuamama

It was in Angola that the Bushman began to fight – for his survival. Cuamama Makua, leader of the Kazamba tribe of Bushmen, was a tall, strapping man in his thirties – the antithesis of what one would expect a Bushman to be. In some dim distant past his ancesters had merged with a black tribe in Angola and produced the ideal warrior – combining the strength of the black with the cunning of the Bushman.

Cuamama was born at Umkushi, in Angola, in the early 1930s and after a limited education had joined the Portuguese army to fight his traditional enemy, the black tribesmen in Angola. For too long the Bushmen had been persecuted and enslaved by them and he welcomed the opportunity to fight back.

The survival of his tribe depended on their skill as fighters. All attempts at ‘Wars Wara’ (negotiating) had failed. In 1960 when the Portuguese DGS secret service began recruiting Bushmen to fight as ‘Flechas’, Cuamama was one of the first volunteers. After a rudimentary training in the use of the G3 rifle, they were armed and sent into the bush to kill black insurgents. Except for the weapons little had changed, for Cuamama’s father and grandfather had ‘culled’ blacks with bows and arrows.

Cuamama recalled those difficult times. He served the Portuguese for 14 years. At times they were sent into the bush for two to three months with no radio or food, nothing but a rifle and ammunition and instructions to kill as many blacks as they could.

Cuamama’s Kazambas were regarded as Baraquenas by the Portuguese, as the latter were also dark Bushmen and spoke a similar dialect. Legend had it that centuries ago the Unterbush tribe of the Okavango had enslaved Bushmen and that the Baraquenas had resulted from intermarriage between them.

Tango

Tango Naka, Kandando and another man were the first three to be trained to fight for the Portuguese. At that stage they weren’t issued with army uniforms or weapons. They were taken from Dirico’ to Calai where they were trained. At some stage the Portuguese fetched more men from Dirico’. They sought young men to be trained as soldiers and many volunteered.

Tango and his two friends were then taken to Serpa Pinto, where they were joined by other Bushmen, and trained further. They weren’t initially issued with rifles, but were taken one at a time to see how they reacted to rifles. As they soon shot well they were trained for a further two months, then given two weeks leave to be with their families.

The Portuguese then fetched them at Dirico’. Tango was allowed to take his wife and family as far as Calai. There he met Cuamama Makua, who came from Mkushi and had been trained at Serpa Pinto with his Baraquenas. After a while Cuamama and Tango were sent back to their settlements to recruit others. They were told to say that they were well looked after and were to recruit more Flechas. They were successful and took the Bushmen recruits to Calai, from where they were taken by the Portuguese to Serpa Pinto for training.

Matoka

Early in the Portuguese colonial war in Angola Matoka Matheus was recruited at Cuito Cuanavale. Born in 1937, he was a Vasequela who was highly regarded by his people. After the initial period of training they were given camouflage uniforms and boots and told that they were going to fight. Their Portuguese officers never went into the bush with them. They would be taken to a point, then sent into the bush to flush out the MPLA and FAPLA. They weren’t given any radios or any command structure – only told to go kill blacks.

To show the Portuguese their successes they were to bring back the enemy’s rifle or cut off his right ear. Sometimes they fought until all their ammunition was depleted, then they ran away. Occasionally they were more successful and returned with many rifles and ears. It was nerve-wracking for the FNLA when the Flechas struck.

At that stage they didn’t know who they were killing, MPLA, UNITA or FNLA. They were just killing blacks. They heard about the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), but just regarded them as more blacks to kill. Before they had been trained as soldiers they had suffered under the blacks, which fueled their hatred of black soldiers. They had joined the Portuguese for the opportunity to take revenge on those who had enslaved them before the Portuguese came.

Cuamama Makua. (IU)

Matoka Matheus. (C Fourie)

Mario

One of the later Flecha recruits, Feliciano Mario Mahongo, was to become a leader among the Vasequelas. He was born in Serpa Pinto on 13 January, 1952, and attended a private Portuguese mission school. The son of a farmer, he completed Std III, went to Luanda and worked as a chef, then returned to find that the war had started. He joined the Portuguese army in August 1969 at Serpa Pinto. Mario trained as a trooper, then went through the ranks until he was commissioned and became a captain. He was one of only two officers amongst the Bushmen, the other being Saffrimento Flippie Kalomboytu, based at Cuito Cuanavale, who was later a Recce in 201 Bn and fought in Rhodesia with the SAS.

Mario was a company commander and took part in many operations. He fought against all three terrorist movements in Angola, the MPLA, UNITA and the FNLA, yet was never wounded. They were flown to the north when they had to fight against the FNLA. They were specifically used with the Portuguese commandos and were considered to be a specialist group, rated just after the Portuguese commandos.

He attended an American reformed church service in mid-1974 and was converted. One of his aunts was a Roman Catholic and as a child he had attended church with her, so had some religious background. His one regret was his parents, ‘My parents believed otherwise. My father never knew the Lord until the day he died.’

Mario spoke Vasequela, Portuguese, and three black Angolan languages, Luchazi, Chukwe and Umbundu. He converted his mother and wife and began influencing others in his tribe.

It was in the Caprivi, on 22 May, 1971, that the first landmine explosion on SWA territory had occurred. Two constables were killed and the start of a new phase of the war began – the attack by SWAPO on the SWA police and people.

On 13 December, 1973, a Lisbon newspaper reported that the DGS had become aware of UPA terrorists who had infiltrated near Luso in eastern Angola. The Flechas were activated under the Director General and destroyed the enemy unit, capturing a company commander, two sub-commanders, two sergeants and a soldier. Among the equipment taken were spears, pistols, mines, grenades, detonators and considerable quantities of Russian ammunition, medicine and military equipment.

After the creation of the Angolan interim government hundreds of Flechas were dismissed. Some of them joined the FNLA, though few remained with them, whereas others were attacked by the local inhabitants and fled south to the Caprivi. Cuamama Makua and Tango Naka had served as Flechas under their OC, José Perreira, for 14 years and were reluctant to leave.

The Beginning of Project Alpha

South Africa’s Project Alpha arose out of the constitutional malais of Angola in the nineteen seventies. The indigenous Angolan organisations, UNITA, FNLA and the MPLA were involved in a power struggle with the Portuguese authorities from the early sixties. The latter’s security police, the dreaded DGS (Direccao Geral Segurico), played an active role in counter-insurgency operations, in which they made use of Angolan Bushmen. The traditional enmity between the Bushmen and the blacks was exploited when Bushmen, with their exceptional field craft, were used against insurgents.

The Portuguese army trained local blacks to use against these organisations. The level of training and the quality of the troops was, however, so low that the unit was never a success. These troops were called GEs.

After the coup d’etat in Portugal on 25 April, 1974, it was decided to withdraw Portuguese forces from Angola. The country would then be handed over to the black, organisations. It became apparent that anyone who had previously assisted the Portuguese would be discriminated against, which gave rise to an exodus of all who had been attached to the DGS. As they were Angolans and not Portuguese their only option was to migrate to South West Africa/Namibia.

Thirty-nine of these Black troops found themselves at Rundu. This gave rise to problems with the Kavango authorities, so it was decided to relocate them to the West Caprivi. Commandant Delville Linford, 44, was appointed OC of the project.

Linford

Delville Linford, born at Potchefstroom on 23 July, 1930, was a descendant of George Spargo Wood-Linford, whose ancestors arrived with the 1820 Settlers from Lincolnshire. He had been named after an uncle who fought in Delville Wood during the First World War. His family had settled in the Western Transvaal, where he grew up speaking Afrikaans. His mother had him attend Potchefstroom Boys High so that he could learn to speak English fluently.

Linford matriculated in 1948 and joined the active citizen force. A few years later he enrolled at the Army Gymnasium. In 1953 he attended the Army College as a trainee instructor and gained first place, then converted to the artillery and two years later was one of the first students to attend the Military Academy at Stellenbosch. He graduated B Mil in 1957, became a gunnery instructor at the School of Artillery at Potchefstroom, then became OC of 3 Battery.

From 1964–5 Linford attended a gunnery staff course in England, then in 1966 presented the course in South Africa. He became an instructor at the Army Staff College, when the young major’s outspokenness soon had him transferred as far from Pretoria as possible, to the castle at Cape Town.

At the time non-conformists were ridiculed in military circles. Linford had supported an infantry officer, Jan Breytenbach, who gave a talk on current tactics and said that there was no need to worry about medical problems as the troops would starve because of lack of logistics. They were later proved right.

Following a marriage he had two young sons to raise. Linford was promoted commandant in 1971 and transferred to Port Elizabeth as a training officer. In 1972 he wrote the army’s war manual. In April 1973 he was appointed senior South African liaison officer to a Portuguese sector commander at Serpa Pinto, Angola.

The Okavango River at Calai. (IU)

He learnt a lot about the training of Flecha units under the local DGS Inspector, Oscar Cardosa. Linford befriended the director of the DGS in south-east Angola, José Rose D’Oliveira, which would prove a boon in the years to come.

The Portuguese commander sported a large beard, so Linford bet him that he could grow a better one within a certain time. His bushy ‘Father Christmas type’ beard and Portuguese uniform had to go after the revolution, when he was recalled to Army Headquarters at Pretoria in July 1974.

Cmdt Delville Linford with and without a beard. (D Linford)

The following month the Director of Operations, Brigadier Constand Viljoen, approached Linford to serve in the West Caprivi. His wide experience of the black resistance organisations made him ideal for the position. His immediate superior, Major-General Fritz Loots, would be known by the nickname ‘Godfather’.

Linford recalled those early days:

I was involved with the Bushmen indirectly when in Angola, when liaison officer with the security police, the DGS. I spent a year and a half and got to know their ways and speak a smattering of their language. After the withdrawal of the Portuguese we also withdrew. I was back in the States (South Africa) and was asked in September 1974 if I’d like to run this project. The Bushmen who worked for DGS were on a sticky wicket.

Gen Loots was running special forces in those days. He decided to bring them across, train them and employ them against SWAPO. Tiny Myburgh, the Ops officer at Rundu, helped the first group. He didn’t know who the Flechas were, so got the 39 black soldiers across. They were not really scouts, more like our citizen force, trained and employed from time to time. They were brought across and hung around in Rundu for a time.

The Caprivi

The northern borders of SWA/Namibia consists of Kaokoland, Ovamboland, Kavango and the Caprivi. In Kavango there were 59,000 Blacks and 3,000 Bushmen. The area is known for its beauty, especially along the Kavango River. The population relies principally on agriculture, whereas wood carving was an important home industry.

The Caprivi in the north-east is a triangular piece of land connected by a corridor which divides Zambia and Botswana. It stretches from Bagani on the Kavango River to the Cuando River in the east. The occupants were Bushmen, with the exception of a company of South African troops at Babwata and two platoon bases on the cutline, between the Caprivi and Angola.

The area had been a game reserve and was thus completely underdeveloped. There was therefore no objection to the SADF resettling anyone there.

The annual floods are of great economic significance, as fish is in many areas the staple food. Farming consists principally of cattle, mahango (corn) and fish. Game is plentiful and elephants, lions, kudus and various waterbuck are found everywhere. The river banks are especially rich in birdlife and have many unique water fowl. It was into this area, between the Kavango and Cuando Rivers, that the SADF would create a base which would become world famous.

A German mechanic, Werner Edler, who had worked for the DGS, had previously been unhappy there, so obtained permission to work at the CSIR in Pretoria. He later returned to his former position with the DGS and met Linford.

After the coup d’etat the DGS men were hunted down and imprisoned or shot. Edler and others flew south to Babwata, bringing with them some Bushman soldiers. Edler never joined the SA army, but remained with it in a civilian capacity.

Corporal Anthony Lloyd, assisted by five other national servicemen, kitted the 39 blacks out and took command of them at Babwata. Linford landed at Rundu on 5 September, 1974, then flew to Babwata. The first group of Angolans had already been sent ahead with their families and belongings. They were commanded by Werner Edler, who was assisted by six national servicemen. Linford’s orders were to build a base and train the troops. During an aerial reconnaissance by Punchy Botha and Werner Edler an area was earmarked for the base: ‘Three water-holes with green grass and large trees’. It was marked with a cross on a map and the map handed to Edler.

On arriving at Babwata Linford was told to inspect his troops. Corporal Lloyd had formed the 39 blacks up in three rows. The former DGS Inspector at Serpa Pinto, Major José Rose D’Oliveira, was present and Linford used him as an interpreter when he addressed the soldiers.

In order to assist with the building of the base Linford recruited 15 local Bushmen out of 50 who congregated at the main gate of the Babwata military base. These Bushmen were of the Baraquena tribe and under the leadership of ‘Keppies. They were to play an important part in the history of the West Caprivi.

Keppies was a Baraquena, originally from Bagani, whose family had been murdered by FAPLA. With him was Jack Bambo, an Afrikaans-speaking Bushman, who had worked on the mines. He was to prove to be a friend and guide to Linford in the difficult times that lay ahead. Jack was later to be the first of the labourers to train as a soldier.

Finding the Promised Land

The expedition, which included truckloads of Bushman women and children, their household goods and chickens, left Babwata early on the morning of 6 September in search of the water-holes and green trees. Linford left Edler in charge while he and Major D’Oliveira travelled eastwards to find Fort Doppies, the base of the Reconnaissance Commando. Fort Doppies was named after a tame monkey which had collected empty doppies (cartridge cases). Linford’s intention was to establish contact with its commander, Cmdt Jan Breytenbach.

They rejoined the convoy later that day, then travelled southwards from the ‘Golden Highway’. Edler had been confident of finding the proposed base, but after a day of struggling through thick bush a vehicle broke down and instructions were given to form a temporary base for the night.

Linford later recalled:

We had to build a training base. Punchy Botha was SO1 at Rundu. He and Edler did a recce by air and marked the place on the map. Edler was supposed to find it, so I left him to see Jan Breytenbach at Fort Doppies. When I got back he was sitting there, where the track turns off. He said the place is due south and I said, ‘Lead the way.’ I was in a Land Rover at the back but I realised we were going wrong, so I said, ‘Stop!’ I found out that he didn’t know how to work a compass, so we navigated by the sun. One of the Bedfords then broke down.

Linford was impressed by the ease with which the Bushmen made lean-tos and fires and settled down. Truly, they were at home in the bush.

The following morning, while the truck was being worked on, Linford left with Jack to find the ‘Promised Land’. The place of green grass and water-holes was never found. Anyone who knows the West Caprivi would appreciate the futility of the exercise as map reading was impossible. The base was then built on the site of the temporary base, where the truck had broken down! A tent town arose which later became known as Camp Alpha.

Jack and I searched for the promised land for a week. People then moved back to Old Alpha as it was shady there. I told them to fix it. Out of frustration I shot at a tree, then it struck me, ‘Why are we looking for trees when we have beautiful ones here?’ When the truck was fixed I decided that we would stay. We never found this promised land of the cross on the map. We started training the black fellows. The black and white regimental colours were meant to be a black group and a Bushman group – the blacks to have the crow and the Bushmen, being brown – an owl.

They called their camp ‘Canaan – the land of milk and honey’. This was later copied by the Babwata Camp, which added the rider, ‘Bring your own cows and bees’.

In mid-September Linford left for Rundu, but his vehicle’s tyre was punctured near a tall camelthorn tree, about two kilometres north of Alpha. Linford liked it:

This was named ‘The place where the elephant sleeps’ as for five metres radius the ground was covered in elephant droppings. I decided that it would be the site of the new camp. Bees had been in a nearby tree so I allowed a Bushman to chop out the honey. He was soon covered in honey, so rubbed sand on his body over the honey.

As the Bushmen didn’t wash, through lack of water, it was his way of getting the stickiness off.

Linford then told Jack to climb a tree and whistle. He then walked in a wide circle, marking the new camp’s perimeter with toilet paper. Whenever he couldn’t hear Jack, he would walk closer until he heard the whistling, then continued his marking. The Bushman women later chopped the bushes inside the perimeter, thereby clearing the future campsite.

Despite the mild climate of the West Caprivi, the nights were chilly as the rainy season had begun and the women and children soon became ill. Though routine in civilised areas, the sicknesses assumed serious proportions as no one had any medical knowledge and medicines were limited. Linford had fortunately raised two sons and soon evolved as an acceptable ‘bush doctor’.

The entire camp population were on dry rations. No one knew what the Bushmen’s former diet had consisted of, though one could guess. A murmur soon arose about the food rations. To compound the problem, Major-General Fritz Loots, who was in charge of the project, instructed that the permanent base rondawels be constructed from mopani poles and thatch. It had to be completed before the onset of the rainy season.

It would mean hard work, a concept which was foreign to the black troops and the Bushmen. Those were difficult days and the fact that the troops had to perform manual labour instead of military training caused further grousing.

Clearing the terrain for Camp Alpha. (SADF)

The Flechas

After the creation of the Angolan interim government hundreds of Flechas were dismissed. Some of them joined the FNLA, whereas others were attacked by the local inhabitants and fled south to the Caprivi.

As a Flecha, Cuamama was to ensure that the enemy were turned away, but he realised that there were too many. His CO told him that it wouldn’t work, and that they were to go to Rundu, which they did. Both he and Tango Naka said that they had been Flechas for 14 years together under José Perreira and Costa Diaz.

Whole families were massacred by the ‘liberation movements’. Over 130 Bushmen were shot in a bloodbath at Mavinga and it was estimated that fully 25 percent of all Angolan Bushmen were killed during this period.

Cuamama came to SWA with 21 people, whereas Tango remained behind to round up stragglers. Their route was Mpushi to Tempu, then along the river to Calai, opposite Rundu.

The Arrival of the Flechas: 2 November 1974

They crossed the border fully armed, as there were many MPLA about. Cuamama crossed on his own first, to see what it was like, then the rest brought their families over.

Major Coen Upton, the GSO 2 at 1 Mil Area HQ, met the group on the cutline. This group consisted of Baraquena and Vasequela Bushmen from Southern Angola. For operations they would serve under four ex-members of DGS, Señors Perreira, Costa Diaz, Padua and Preto. They had been security policemen, rather than soldiers, and required further training. On their arrival Alpha group was made responsible for the security of the entire West Caprivi.

From Rundu Major Upton, who later became Linford’s 2IC, accompanied them to camp Alpha. They travelled by trucks to Alpha, where they found Keppies building the camp. They realised that it was their new home and felt good, despite having to live in tents initially. From the beginning the Baraquenas and Vasequelas were separated.

Cuamama was regarded as the Bushman leader and was to play a large role at the base. Linford was impressed by the dark Bushman with the shaven head, who stood as tall as himself. The permanent base was constructed about two kilometres north of Alpha. As it was incomplete, the Flechas and their families were housed in the Alpha tent town.

When one of the Flechas, Jimmy, saw that Linford was to be their OC he said to the others, ‘I know this man from Angola. The white men embrace him and I will follow him.’ With that recommendation the other Flechas agreed to serve under Linford.

Linford lost no time in moulding his men into a fighting unit.

Then this new group arrived. Keppies was of the labour group which had come in September on the expedition to start the camp. Jack Bambo was the guy who could speak Afrikaans and had worked in a mine in SA for a time; a very switched on guy for tracking etc. Keppies was the witchdoctor, I found out afterwards, and ruled everyone, especially the women and kids. Jack was the operator.

Cuamama and his lot were Kazambas. They are black like the Baraquenas but not quite, and speak a dialect of the Baraquena language, but are bigger and black. Some Vasequelas also came. Altogether about a company strong. Lucas André was a youngster, but one of the leading element. They were brought by the leaders of DGS. The names that feature are Perreira, Costa Diaz and D’Oliveira. We sharpened them by zeroing their rifles properly and did a bit of tactical training. Otherwise they did it by themselves.

We then started operating north of here on the routes from Zambia to Okavango and Ovamboland with these blokes and eventually had cleared the whole area of SWAPO. We operated from Alpha. We needed more troops, then Keppies and Jack, who got R15 pm as opposed to the Flechas who got R40 pm, complained that they were the citizens of the country, whereas the foreign Bushmen were allowed to carry weapons and got better pay. I said, ‘OK! you’ve got a point.’

A defence plan was implemented to protect the base from enemy attacks. As the Bushmen had special senses they were armed with pangas and placed at strategic points to prevent sneak attacks and infiltration. The Bushmen objected to this. Their argument was that they, Caprivians, were given pangas whereas strangers from another land carried rifles. The question was, ‘Why could they not also be soldiers?’ The argument was unanswerable and so the first Bushmen of the West Caprivi were recruited into the unit.

Then I started a recruiting campaign from Bagani through to Pongola. A lot of youngsters were then trained. They were excellent trackers. We started operating two companies – Alpha (Vasequelas) and Bravo (Baraquenas and Kazambas). What changed our whole setup is that we dominated the whole area. SWAPO then operated further north and came down the road outside our area.

We carried on building this base during all the operations. There was a clearing around this Camelthorn tree – it was called the elephant’s tree as an elephant had roamed this area for years. The big tree at Alpha, where I pitched my tent was where there was a buffalo drinking place. Another tree, which we called ‘Jack’s tree’, stood at an angle of 60 degrees and was dead.

When we opened this place in 1974, Punchy Botha, Stroebel, etc, were the staff officers at Rundu who helped us originally. We gave them pangas with their names on and thanks for assistance. The first buildings were kimbos. The officers’ mess was built by six national servicemen. They were going ‘bushy’ with Christmas coming. We had nothing, not even chairs. I felt sorry for them. One Saturday afternoon I took my shirt off and started filling sandbags and pushing a wheelbarrow.

One asked what I was doing and I said ‘Building a mess’. He asked if he could help me and I told him to get his own wheelbarrow and fill sandbags. The others then assisted. We dug out anthills and levelled the ground with it. We had two LP records, one by Virginia Lee and one called ‘Midnight in Soweto’ which I’ll never forget. We got the little Bushmen to come and dance on the floor and in no time they had it flattened. Their little feet compacted the antheaps harder than reinforced concrete.

Then we built up the walls and put up a tent top. We then got chairs and tables. By Christmas the mess was finished and inaugurated. The next day we were finished. The kimbos were built of mopani poles with grass roofs. The women cut the grass. I estimated that we would exterminate all the mopanis in the area, so I started on split poles. The first building we put up at Omega was the headquarters, then sheds, then the mess and kitchen, dining rooms, cabins and so on.

The wood came from the States [South Africa]. A Rhodesian chap came to light with timber. A lot of them came from Katima.

Linford ensured the future of Omega’s foliage by issuing an order that for every tree anyone chopped down, they were to plant five.

The troops were organised into a company of three platoons. Major D’Oliveira was company commander with Perreira, Costa Diaz and Padua as platoon commanders. Despite being issued with SADF nutria uniforms they were reluctant to leave their ragged, camouflage ‘bushkit’ and Flecha badges. Major D’Oliveira, the only leader with any military background, had a difficult task in training them to RSA standards, particularly as he had no knowledge of its standards.

On 13 November a conference was held at Rundu with all Sub Area OCs. They were advised that all Portuguese were to be out of south-east Angola by the end of December. Anyone visiting Camp Alpha or Fort Doppies must have security clearance from 1 Military headquarters.

Friction then arose between the Portuguese, the blacks and the Bushmen. Each group accused the other of arrogance. Besides these problems, the relationship between the black troops and the Bushmen had never been good. This rapidly deteriorated when the young black troops began eying the half-clad Bushman women. It culminated in open aggression by the Bushmen on the troops who had made improper suggestions to the Bushman women.

The OC decided that it would be wise to get rid of the troops as soon as possible. They were sent to Rundu and thereafter to a road construction camp near Chetto. The 15 Bushmen labourers remained. It is interesting to note that the choice of the crow as the unit’s emblem can be ascribed to the black troops and not the Flechas.

The only Bantu to return was Manuel, called Makatees, a derogatorary term for a black. The South Africans nicknamed him McTavish, as they had a Scotsman with them who had difficulty in pronouncing the name. Makatees had been a batman to a South African at Serpa Pinto and was evacuated for fear of reprisals. On reaching Rundu he had told Cmdt ‘Punchy’ Botha that he had worked for a commandant who had a beard. Botha realised it was Linford, so sent him to Alpha. He became a clerk in the sickbay and later married one of the Bushman nurses.

Two families of Flechas were initially allocated to each tent. More tents were requested as well as beds and mattresses. A request was also made for lighter boots, as the physically small Flechas struggled to walk in the sand wearing heavy army boots.

The six national servicemen were used in varied roles, such as administration, stores control and drill instructors, but were mostly employed in camp building. Though inexperienced, they were enthusiastic and well motivated. The rainy season had then begun and morale was low. Equipment was slow in coming and food was often spoilt by the time it arrived.

Linford enjoyed listening to the young servicemen recounting their experiences. He especially recalled that Lloyd, who had been on exchange in the USA, had once asked a girl in his class if he could borrow a rubber from her. The class was in an uproar until he managed to convey that all he wanted was an eraser!

Among the friends Linford had left behind at Serpa Pinto was Stella do Carmo. When the ‘Liberation Forces’ began bothering her, her father hired an aircraft and had her flown to Rundu, then later followed. Linford found her there and through the good offices of the Godfather managed to get her a job.

At that stage transport consisted of Linford’s Land Rover and six Bedford trucks which had been declared beyond repair by the Rundu base. They were also given a small box of tools; a hammer, a pair of pliers and assorted spanners.

Linford urgently requested basic equipment such as tents, tables, stoves, lights, eating utensils, generators, refrigerators etc and he found the staff at Rundu extremely helpful.

There was a small waterhole near the camp, but the main supply was brought by truck from Babwata. Occasionally the water trucks arrived a quarter full because of the bumpy roads and leaks. Rations were similarly provided but when the pontoon on the Kavango river broke down at Bagani they had to resort to shooting game for fresh meat.

Personnel consisted initially of 10 whites, 39 blacks and Bushmen, 24 women and 35 children, a total of 108. A motor mechanic was desperately needed to maintain the trucks.

Communications with the outside world was ineffective, as initially all radio calls went via 1 Sub Area, and there were often frequency changes. Linford had been advised that a large group of people, codenamed Zulus, would be arriving shortly and a site for Camp Zulu was to be selected. In an effort to indicate the location to an overflying aircraft, a smoke grenade went off in Linford’s hand, which caused a serious burn.

The OC loved playing with the Bushmen children. His favourites were two toddlers, Snowy and Grumpy. Snowy had been badly scalded by boiling porridge. Linford used some of the ointment he had used on his burnt hand and she recovered without any scars.

On one occasion he scolded