Keeping the Spirit Alive January - March, 2009
ISSN 0816-6315 A contact magazine covering 6 continents Vol. 24, No. 3 Keeping the Spirit Alive January - March, 2009 1 counter an armed coup by ZANU P/F if they lost the election. There was no question of a preemptive strike being made against ZANU P/F as has Rhodesia to Zimbabwe 1980 been widely suggested. The possibility of a coup by the Rhodesian Security Forces was never Extracts from The Silent War: South African Recce Operations discussed ‘in Combined Operations or any other responsible forum’. 1969-1994 by Peter Stiff, published by Galago. Besides, many senior military officers had made it clear they would not Published with permission. www.galago.co.za. have participated. The British South Africa Police, a powerful arm of the security forces indeed, would definitely not have supported it.19 Operation Quartz 1980 - Part 1 It is likely that most lower rankers of the Security Forces believed a During the election run-up, the Patriotic Front combination of ZIPRA coup against ZANU P/F, rather than a counter coup, was being mount- and ZANLA fighters established a joint military HQ in the three storey ed but this was wishful thinking. Most, for the usual reason of ‘need to audio/visual centre at the University of Rhodesia, Mount Pleasant. It know’, were briefed only on their own tasks and were not introduced to was occupied by about 200 cadres drawn from ZANLA and ZIPRA, the broader picture. as well as senior military officers including ZANLA’s Rex Nhongo and Nevertheless various attempts, officially sanctioned by Combined Op- ZIPRA’s Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku.
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