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. The factions also erations to assassinate Robert Mugabe were embarked on over the pe- occupied three other major buildings including one in Belvedere and riod under the code name Operation Hectic. They were designed to get another, housing ZANU P/F’s administrative HQ and about a hundred rid of him because he was considered a dangerous radical and a threat ZANLA cadres, in the Medical Arts Centre in Highlands. to the country’s future. This caused concern to the senior planners of Rhodesia’s Combined Such attempts, variously mounted by the SAS and the Selous Scouts Operations, because of ZANU P/F’s open threats that if they did not win were supplementary to and had no connection with Operation Quartz. the elections they would return to the bush and continue the war. The determination of Combined Operations to see them through was If that happened, those strategically placed buildings in Salisbury continually punctuated by vacillations. could become ZANLA’s Trojan horses to house reinforcements covertly From what the author could determine, all these operations, certainly brought in from the assembly points. They could be used as launch those mounted by the SAS, were planned at Combined Operations level pads from which to grab control of the capital city, followed by the whole and involved the commanders of the various services. It is remotely pos- country. Meanwhile, guerrillas at the assembly points would melt away sible a few were planned on a ‘private enterprise’ basis but it seems into the countryside, ready to play whatever part had been designated unlikely. In any case, if they did occur, it would have been with the tacit for them in the insurrection. nod or a wink of higher authority. None of the assassination attempts ap- To guard against such a coup attempt, Operation Quartz was peared to have been particularly notable for thoroughness of planning. launched. Perhaps, on the other hand, their failures resulted from information be- The first stage involved SAS personnel and the Rhodesian Armoured ing fed back to ZANU P/F. Most, but not all attempts have already been Car Regiment. Flats and houses adjacent to the buildings occupied by documented, but there were others which were aborted or abandoned the Patriotic Front units were rented. From them surveillance was car- while still in the planning stages. ried out, counting personnel entering and leaving and generally moni- Ken Flower, although clearly involved in approving or vetoing such toring activity. Detailed intelligence was available on all the buildings, plans, made it clear in his memoirs that he did not regard plans to elimi- including floor plans. nate Robert Mugabe with favour. In a diary entry on 4 February, 1980 The SADF provided sophisticated radio communications and moni- he wrote of vetoing three plans to eliminate Mugabe that had been put toring equipment and a number of civilian vehicles were routed to the forward by ‘R’. Despite this ‘R’ and others contacted him the following SAS through the CIO, obtained from South African sources, for use morning and said ‘Plan No 3’ was too advanced to be stopped. When during the operation. he ‘said categorically it had to be stopped or he would go out and stop it The SAS wheedled its way into the organisation contracted to provide personally, and there was no other authority to whom they could appeal food to the headquarters. With this as a cover, operators were con- ─ R demurred’. stantly infiltrated into the Patriotic Front’s Mount Pleasant HQ to gain ‘In the event I managed to stop the original plans,’ he said, ‘but not the first hand knowledge of what was going on. They accumulated details massacre of fifteen or more wedding guests who should have played of who slept in what bed, personal weapon holdings and the availability no part in this . it has never been our practise to approve the killing of and quantities of machine-guns and RPG-7 rocket launchers. innocents.’20 Just before the election, an operator was recognised by a ZANLA He was referring to an officially sanctioned attempt to lay the respon- guerrilla who had once worked as a labourer at Cranborne Barracks, sibility for atrocities at the door of ZANU P/F, when a party of Selous when the SAS was still based there. He raised the alarm and during the Scouts commanded by a captain ambushed a bus carrying fifteen of fracas that followed the operator was arrested, threatened and came Bishop Muzorewa’s supporters who were returning from a wedding. near to being badly beaten up before he was released. This was re- They ruthlessly murdered them, killing them all with RPG-7 rocket and ported to Robert Mugabe and resulted in some interesting repercus- machine-gun fire. sions later. Another pointless operation born out of desperate reasoning, involved If ZANU P/F lost the election and a coup attempt was clearly immi- two Selous Scouts acting under orders, Lieutenant Edward Piringondo nent, air strikes by the Rhodesian Air Force and ground assaults by the and a sergeant. They badly damaged the Presbyterian Church in Jame- Rhodesian Light Infantry and Selous Scouts would be launched against son Avenue with explosives, blew up the Interdenominational Church, ZANLA’s major assembly points. Borrowdale and St. Mary’s Anglican Church in the Harare African Town- ZANU P/F’s perceived plans to grab Salisbury would be foiled by the ship. While fleeing the scene of the St. Mary’s atrocity, explosives in their SAS and the Armoured Car Regiment. They would attack the military car accidentally detonated and both were killed. HQ at Mount Pleasant, using Soviet T-55 tanks diverted to Rhodesia by The purpose again was to lay the blame at the feet of ZANU P/F, so the South Africans while en route to Uganda, Eland-90 armoured cars, they could be shown up not only as Marxists but as the anti-Christ. The 106-mm recoilless rifles and other heavy weapons. main failing of this reasoning was that while ZANLA had systematically Before attacking, ZIPRA personnel, who would be regarded as friend- engaged in atrocities against the civil population and even men and wom- ly and not hostile, would be given the chance to surrender. If they re- en of the cloth, they had never burned, blown up or razed churches. mained, they would take their chances with the rest. The target would be softened up by the heavy guns before being finally cleared by an Ken Flower said it led ‘to sharp confrontation at top level ─ rap- infantry assault. idly resolved I’m pleased to say ─ between Peter Allum [Commissioner The same would occur at other buildings occupied by ZANLA. Robert of Police], Peter Walls [Commander Combined Operations] and myself’. Mugabe’s house and that of his deputy,Simon Muzenda, would also be How it was rapidly resolved, the details of the top level ‘sharp confronta- attacked and the occupants killed. tion’ and the final result remained unsaid. It is stressed, however, that the operation was designed purely to 2 Look & Listen Welcome… As I write this the Arizona temperatures have risen sharply to make us wonder if there really was ever a winter this year. Our economy is in tatters and massive cuts to the education budget are in the offing, all pleasant signs of Spring here in the U.S.A. As I have been hearing from you when you received the magazine I have come to the conclusion that postal times for the magazine to the various parts of the world will be what they are and I have no control over them. I have tried to get the magazine out on time each three months. In December we had the magazine to the freight company by December Cover Picture: From The Heights-Kariba at its Fullest 5, but due to snow and inclement weather it only left the forward mailer 1981. Picture by Mick HAWKES on Dec 22. So I have a plan that might help those of you with access to the internet on your own computer.