Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
As South Africa marked 20 years since the first one-man–one-vote elections in South Africa, we
have been subjected to an extraordinary amount of propaganda, inverting reality and rewriting
history. If one was to believe films like Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom , and take at face
value pronouncements by politicians and news commentary and documentaries on SATV, it
would appear that the ANC won the war and were gracious and merciful to their defeated
enemies.
Recognising Reality
In fact, the reverse is true. There can be no doubt that the South African Defence Force won the
war. As a military force, the ANC's Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) was a failure. So too was the Pan
African Congress' (PAC) APLA. Yes, they managed some high profile terrorist attacks, such as
the Church Street bombing and the St. James Church Massacre, but they were never able to
defeat the SADF in battle. In fact they could only operate as terrorist movements, planting
landmines, limpet mines, suitcase bombs, car bombs, engaging in necklace murders and
assassinations.
Every time the SADF attacked, the Guerrillas/Freedom Fighters/Terrorists were defeated and
the survivors fled.
The Defeat of SWAPO
1/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
This was also true for SWAPO in South West Africa/Namibia and Angola. In the 26-year war,
SWAPO managed to murder 10,000 civilians, much of them by landmines. However, they were
not able to hold any ground in South West Africa and even their external bases in Angola,
protected by Cuban, Soviet and Angolan MPLA/FAPLA forces, were destroyed whenever the
SADF attacked.
Decisive Victories in Angola
At the height of the Cold War, from 1985 to 1988, the SADF faced increasing confrontations
with Soviet MiG fighter bomber jets and Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships and massive ground
offensives by Cuban mechanised divisions in Angola. On every occasion the SADF decisively
defeated the Soviet and Cuban forces.
Defeating the Soviet Union
General Jannie Geldenhuys in his book: We Were There – Winning the War for Southern Africa
, documents the enormous Soviet mobilisation in Angola and the staggering losses they
endured at the hands of the SADF. He quotes from Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Igor Zhdarkin,
who was a participant in the Angolan War. Zhdarkin's book:
We Did Not See it Even in Afghanistan!
published by the Russian Academy of Science Institute for Africa Studies attributes the fall of
the Soviet Union to the ripple effects of the disastrous defeats suffered by the Russians and
their Cuban allies in Angola at the hands of the South African Defence Force.
2/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
The Beginning of the End of the Soviet Union
He also quotes from Jose Milhaze's book: Angola – The Beginning of the End of the Soviet
Union
. Jose Milhaze is of Portuguese origin and
based in Russia. His first book's title was:
The
End of the Soviet Union
. The second:
Angola – The Beginning of the End of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Strategy to Seize South Africa
Carlos Pacheco, a Brazilian historian who wrote the preface to Milhaze's book: The Fracas of
Soviet Expansionism
, concludes:
"The first priority of the Russian expansionism in Southern Africa was not so much important in
terms of materials, but above all about politics."
He emphasised that it was the Republic of South Africa that the Soviets had their sights on.
Angola was only the stepping stone towards the mineral rich and strategic South Africa.
The Lomba River
Chester Crocker, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, in his book: High Noon in
Southern Africa – Making Peace in a Rough Neighbourhood
, reported:
"In early October 1987 the Soviet – FAPLA offensive was smashed at the Lomba River near
Mavinga. It turned into a headlong retreat over the 120 miles back to the primary launching
3/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
point at Cuito Cuanavale. In some of the bloodiest battles of the entire civil war, a combined
force of some 8,000 UNITA fighters and 4,000 SADF troops, destroyed a FAPLA brigade and
hauled several others out of a total FAPLA force of some 18,000 engaged in the three-pronged
offensive. Estimates of FAPLA losses ranged upwards of 4,000 killed and wounded."
A Decisive Defeat for Soviet Expansionism
"This offensive had been a Soviet conception from start to finish and senior Soviet officers
played a central role in its execution. Over a thousand Soviet advisors were assigned to Angola
in 1987 to help with Moscow's largest logistical effort to date in Angola; roughly $1.5 billion in
military hardware was delivered that year. Huge quantities of Soviet equipment were destroyed
or fell into UNITA and SADF hands when FAPLA broke into disorganised retreat. The 1987
military campaign represented a stunning humiliation for the Soviet Union, its arms and its
strategy."
The Cost of Victory
At one hostile press conference in Windhoek, Colonel Deon Ferreira, the Operational
4/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
Commander of Operations Modular, Hooper and Packer, was challenged to respond to
accusations that South Africans had been beaten in the just concluded battles in Angola. He
responded, tongue in cheek: "If defeat for South Africa meant the loss of 31 men, 3 tanks, 5
armoured vehicles and 3 aircraft, then we lost. If the victory for FAPLA and the Cubans meant
the loss of 4,600 men, 94 tanks, 100 armoured vehicles, 9 aircraft, and other Soviet equipment
valued at more than a billion Rand, then they won!"
Victors are Not Executed by Their Own Side
Facts are stubborn things. Such as the fact that supreme communist Commander for Angola,
Cuban General Aranaldo Ochoa Sanchez, was executed by firing squad, less than a year later,
in Havana, Cuba.
Visible Evidence of the Defeat of Communism
I have walked in these grave yards of Soviet tanks, armoured cars and shot-out equipment in
Angola. I have many pictures of shot down Soviet aircraft and destroyed Soviet and Cuban
tanks in Angola. There is no doubt about who won the war in Angola. The dismantled Iron
Curtain also makes clear who lost the Cold War.
A Conversation with President De Klerk
5/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with F.W. De Klerk, the previous president of South
Africa. I asked him if he had seen the Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom film and what he
thought of how the negotiation process was depicted. Mr De Klerk smiled and said No, he had
not seen the film and he was sure that it would not have depicted the negotiation process
accurately, based as it was on Mandela's autobiography.
Winning the Cold War
I then asked Mr De Klerk if he could correct me if my perception was wrong. I said: "We are
continually being bombarded with disinformation that the ANC won the war and Mandela was
gracious to his defeated enemies. I had always thought that the opposite was true. We had won
the war and our government had chosen to be gracious with our defeated enemies. My
understanding is that after a series of stunning military victories in Angola, when we had
thoroughly blunted and devastated the communist forces in Angola, with the Russians having
withdrawn from Angola and the Cubans being withdrawn, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Iron
Curtain collapsed, as one country after another throughout Eastern Europe overthrew the
communist dictators who had oppressed them for decades, our government in South Africa had
chosen to seize the initiative and initiate negotiations with the ANC and other black nationalist
groups to seek a peaceful resolution for all South Africans."
Negotiating From a Position of Strength
At this Mr De Klerk nodded and agreed heartily. "Yes, that is true", he said. "We negotiated
from a position of strength. The ANC had lost their Soviet sponsors and we saw an opportunity
6/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
to seize the initiative and resolve our problems in South Africa by bringing about a Constitutional
State, where the Rule of Law would guarantee the rights of all."
If the War Had Continued
Mr De Klerk then smiled and said: "If we had wanted to, the National Party could still be the
government of this country, and I could still be its president."
Then he added
, "However, that would have been at the cost of many more lives lost in the ongoing war."
I replied that there were many South Africans who would have gladly continued fighting against
communism and terrorism, especially as even more had died from crime since, than had even
died in the war.
"I know." Said Mr De Klerk, "But apartheid had to go. We could not fight for an unjust cause."
"My understanding is that apartheid had already been rejected by the white South Africa
electorate in the 1983 Referendum. In fact your predecessor, President P.W. Botha had
abolished virtually every apartheid law before 1989. We were not fighting for apartheid. We
were fighting against communism and against terrorism."
Perceptions
"That is true," said Mr De Klerk. "However, that is not the way the world saw it. Until they saw a
black president over South Africa, they would not believe that apartheid was abolished."
7/8
Who Won the War and Who Initiated the Peace?
The
Negotiated
Agreement
government
"Mr
De
Klerk,
in
do
1994?"
you
believe
that
the
ANC
are
being
true
to
the
agreement
negotiated
with
your
Iwhat
asked.
"No,
regard
they
to
race."
are
not.
We
agreed
to
anegotiated
Constitutional
State
where
the
rule
of
law
applies,
without
any
Set
the
Record
Straight
"Mr
Africans
De
Klerk,
the
there
world
are
many
was
who
are
to
agreed
you
to
set
on
the
in
1994."
record
straight
and
remind
South
and
assured
me
that
he
would
endeavour
to
do
so
through
his
De
Klerk
Mr
Foundation.
Deonce
Klerk
thanked
me
The
First
Battlefield
Karl
Marx
declared:
"The
first
battlefield
is
the
rewriting
of
history."
"See
depends
to
itand
on
that
human
no
one
tradition
takes
you
and
captive
the
basic
through
principles
hollow
of
and
this
deceptive
world
rather
philosophy
than
on
Christ."
which
Colossians
2:8
Understanding
Cold
War
Context
It
and
is wars
impossible
the
very
clear
tothe
understand
and
present
recent
threat
South
oflooking
Soviet
African
expansionism
history
without
and
communist
understanding
revolution.
the
Cold
War
Defeat
of
Communism
Led
to
Free
Elections
The
opposition
control
the
Mozambique
War.
threat
defeat
The
was
of
throughout
Soviet
Eastern
to
removed,
of
communism
and
the
Union
Soviet
South
Europe
Southern
all
and
of
Africa.
forces
that
and
these
communism
Africa
swept
the
in
This
countries
Angola,
collapse
resolved
and
Eastern
was
providing
Afghanistan,
managed
ofand
behind
Europe
the
the
conflicts
Soviet
for
to
all
inelections
secure
Nicaragua,
these
1989,
Union
which
conflicts
which
internal
itself,
in
had
Namibia,
and
brought
raged
opened
and
settlements.
the
tidal
throughout
Zambia,
an
the
wave
end
the
way
Soviet
to
Angola,
for
ofthe
Soviet
ending
Cold
The
SADF
Brought
About
athe
Peaceful
Resolution
negotiations
It
National
African
was
after
Communist
Party
the
that
government
South
would
Party
African
end
revolutionaries
decided
Defence
violence
release
Force's
and
from
prison,
Nelson
decisive
inMandela
military
the
isolation
hopes
victories
andof
against
other
bringing
inANC
the
South
about
field
and
Africa.
that
South
theProve
This
is
quite
the
reverse
ofevil
what
the to
state
media
and
school
textbooks
would
have
us
believe.
"Woe
darkness,
to
those
who
who
put
bitter
call
for
good
sweet
and
and
good
sweet
evil,
forwho
bitter."
darkness
for
light
and
light
for
Isaiah
5:20
"Acquitting
the
guilty
and
condemning
theinternational
innocent
–put
the
Lord
detests
them
both."
rbs
17:15
Dr.
Peter
Hammond
Frontline
Fellowship
P.O.
Box
74
Newlands
7725
Cape
Town
South
Africa
Tel:
021-689-4480
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
www.frontline.org.za
See
also:
Battle
for
South
The
Cold
War
and
theAfrica
Iron
Curtain
Making
Idols
of
Modern
and
Communist
Liberation
–Men
Myth
andMyths
Reality
Christian
Terror
E-Book
How
the
Soviets
and
Cubans
Lost
the War in Southern Africa E-Book
8/8