Episode 64 – Another Maputo raid and Hearts and Minds in the Kavango

It’s 1980 and in February Robert Mugabe’s ZANU movement was about to win the first Zimbabwean election - managing to scape a small majority – they won 57 seats out of 100. Not exactly a landslide then. In April, Mugabe would officially be declared prime minister and the country would become independent from the United Kingdom. ON the 1st April, the Southern African Development Coordination Conference was setup with Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe signing up. South Africa was the noticeable absentee because the main reason for the SADCC was to wean the other southern African states off South Africa’s economy. Zimbabwe immediately felt the pain – South Africa stopped exporting fertilizer within a few months, then they cancelled a trade agreement with the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Harare turned to Mozambique, and in particular, the Beira corridor, Zimbabwe began exporting and importing products via this vital route which terminated in Beira. There was also that all important oil pipeline which had been closed through the Bush War which was going to be reopened. Before all of this started, planning of another type was under way. The Recces and the Rhodesian SAS wanted one more opportunity to attack Robert Mugabe who was living in Maputo. Speaking of time and money – the far eastern area of Ovamboland had experienced some peace and quiet for some time and by 1981 the Kavango farming area of Mangeti was clean – it had avoided the insurgency that had characterized the central region. That was due to a number of factors, not least was a highly successful hearts and minds campaign launched by Willem Ratte of 32 Battalion’s reconnaissance wing. Always highly situationally aware, Ratte had noticed that SWAPO tended to use the Nkongo route, around 60 kilometers west of Omauni, as their main infiltration path.