Military actions towards South Africa’s neighbours

• Communist governments came to power in Angola and Mozambique when Portuguese rule in 1975
• They allowed independence fighters from Namibia to set up bases in Angola; these fighters were backed by Cuban soldiers and armed with Soviet weapons
• MK, the military wing of the ANC could set up bases in Angola and Mozambique and Angola, within easy striking distance of South African targets
• In Angola, SADF forces supported UNITA (ani-government rebels) keeping the civil war active; they raided MK bases and the bases of guerrillas who have been fighting for independence in Namibia
• The Bureau of State Security (BOSS) the secret police, carried out a ‘dirty war’ against ANC leaders in exile; Ruth First (wife of Joe Slovo) was killed by a parcel bomb, Griffiths Mxenge a lawyer working for the ‘Free Mandela’ campaign was beaten to death in 1981, and Joe Gqabi (the ANC representative in Zimbabwe) was assassinated
• Many of BOSS’s activities only came to light in the 1990s through the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• In Mozambique, there was no anti-government force so the SADF set up an armed one, trigging a civil war
• In 1984 President Machel, under pressure to rebuild his country, agreed with South Africa not to assist the ANC - nevertheless in 1986, his plane was deliberately misdirected by a South African beacon so that it crashed and he was killed
• Psychological warfare - he created this message he was fighting a war against communism on behalf of democracy, freedom, Christianity and free enterprise