32 Battalion sparks memories

2003-07-23 18:52

Pretoria - As South African diplomats helped international mediators behind the scenes in Sao Tome, memories were sparked here of the feared apartheid-era 32 Battalion, some of whose former members are among the putschists in the tiny island nation.

The Portuguese-speaking fighters enrolled in the South African army were "trained killers", said Lebona Mosia, a former South African liberation fighter.

"They were really ruthless bastards," he told AFP.

Members were mostly from Angola and other Portuguese-speaking nations in Africa.

"When they joined, we told them that there was a new tribe, 32 battalion, and that I was the chief," the unit's founding commander, Colonel Jan Breytenbach, told AFP.

The unit, which had a buffalo's head as its insignia - hence the "Buffalo Battalion" nickname pinned on it by its adversaries - fought in Angola with South Africa's apartheid army against the ruling Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and its Cuban allies after Angola's independence in 1975.

Not mercenaries

It was formed mainly from Angolans belonging to the right-wing rebel National Liberation Front of Angola.

Held in awe by other members of the old South African Defence Force (SADF) it was feared by its adversaries.

"The battalion was without a doubt one of the best light infantry units in the world," said Helmoed Heitman, correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"They were on a par with units such as the (Nepalese) Gurkhas," he told AFP.

Breytenbach does not deny that his unit was controversial.

"Well, some would say that we were mercenaries because the bulk of the unit was made up of recruits from Angola," Breytenbach told AFP.

But he declared: "They were never mercenaries. They were incorporated into the South African army as a normal infantry battalion after being betrayed by their own people."

The battalion soon established a dreaded reputation as a counter-insurgency unit in Angola, earning the nickname of "The Terrible Ones."

Buffalo Soldiers

Said Breytenbach: "The name 'Buffalo Soldiers' was never invented by us. This was a nickname given to the battalion by the Angolan army."

Led by white officers, they often bore the brunt of fighting against the MPLA's troops and their Cuban allies.

No other unit, apart from South Africa's special forces reconnaisance commandos, won as many medals for bravery during the war in Angola, with the battalion operating far behind enemy lines.

Heitman said however that there was no concrete evidence that the unit was ever involved in atrocities.

"They had to operate in small groups, and were often reliant on the goodwill of the local population," he said. "They therefore had to be nice to the local population."

The unit was later stationed in Namibia, then administered by South Africa, but withdrawn in 1989, following a political settlement there which led to independence a year later.

In 1993, South Africa's last white president, FW (Frederik) de Klerk disbanded 32 Battalion - much to the disgust of its former members - as part of a political deal with the African National Congress, which won the country's first democratic elections a year later.

- AFX