Vol. 24, No. 3January - March, 2009

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ISSN 0816-6315A contact magazine covering 6 continents

Keeping the Spirit Alive

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Rhodesia to Zimbabwe 1980

Extracts from The Silent War: South African Recce Operations 1969-1994 by Peter Stiff, published by Galago. Published with permission. www.galago.co.za.Operation Quartz 1980 - Part 1 During the election run-up, the Patriotic Front combination of ZIPRA and ZANLA fighters established a joint military HQ in the three storey audio/visual centre at the University of Rhodesia, Mount Pleasant. It was occupied by about 200 cadres drawn from ZANLA and ZIPRA, as well as senior military officers including ZANLA’s Rex Nhongo and ZIPRA’s Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku. The factions also occupied three other major buildings including one in Belvedere and another, housing ZANU P/F’s administrative HQ and about a hundred ZANLA cadres, in the Medical Arts Centre in Highlands. This caused concern to the senior planners of Rhodesia’s Combined Operations, because of ZANU P/F’s open threats that if they did not win the elections they would return to the bush and continue the war. If that happened, those strategically placed buildings in Salisbury could become ZANLA’s Trojan horses to house reinforcements covertly brought in from the assembly points. They could be used as launch pads from which to grab control of the capital city, followed by the whole country. Meanwhile, guerrillas at the assembly points would melt away into the countryside, ready to play whatever part had been designated for them in the insurrection. To guard against such a coup attempt, Operation Quartz was launched. The first stage involved SAS personnel and the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment. Flats and houses adjacent to the buildings occupied by the Patriotic Front units were rented. From them surveillance was car-ried out, counting personnel entering and leaving and generally moni-toring activity. Detailed intelligence was available on all the buildings, including floor plans. The SADF provided sophisticated radio communications and moni-toring equipment and a number of civilian vehicles were routed to the SAS through the CIO, obtained from South African sources, for use during the operation. The SAS wheedled its way into the organisation contracted to provide food to the headquarters. With this as a cover, operators were con-stantly infiltrated into the Patriotic Front’s Mount Pleasant HQ to gain first hand knowledge of what was going on. They accumulated details of who slept in what bed, personal weapon holdings and the availability and quantities of machine-guns and RPG-7 rocket launchers. Just before the election, an operator was recognised by a ZANLA guerrilla who had once worked as a labourer at Cranborne Barracks, when the SAS was still based there. He raised the alarm and during the fracas that followed the operator was arrested, threatened and came near to being badly beaten up before he was released. This was re-ported to Robert Mugabe and resulted in some interesting repercus-sions later. If ZANU P/F lost the election and a coup attempt was clearly immi-nent, air strikes by the Rhodesian Air Force and ground assaults by the Rhodesian Light Infantry and Selous Scouts would be launched against ZANLA’s major assembly points. ZANU P/F’s perceived plans to grab Salisbury would be foiled by the SAS and the Armoured Car Regiment. They would attack the military HQ at Mount Pleasant, using Soviet T-55 tanks diverted to Rhodesia by the South Africans while en route to Uganda, Eland-90 armoured cars, 106-mm recoilless rifles and other heavy weapons. Before attacking, ZIPRA personnel, who would be regarded as friend-ly and not hostile, would be given the chance to surrender. If they re-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 infantry assault. The same would occur at other buildings occupied by ZANLA. Robert Mugabe’s house and that of his deputy,Simon Muzenda, would also be attacked and the occupants killed. It is stressed, however, that the operation was designed purely to

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 been widely suggested. The possibility of a coup by the Rhodesian Security Forces was never discussed ‘in Combined Operations or any other responsible forum’. Besides, many senior military officers had made it clear they would not have participated. The British South Africa Police, a powerful arm of the security forces indeed, would definitely not have supported it.19 It is likely that most lower rankers of the Security Forces believed a coup against ZANU P/F, rather than a counter coup, was being mount-ed but this was wishful thinking. Most, for the usual reason of ‘need to know’, were briefed only on their own tasks and were not introduced to the broader picture. Nevertheless various attempts, officially sanctioned by Combined Op-erations to assassinate Robert Mugabe were embarked on over the pe-riod under the code name Operation Hectic. They were designed to get rid of him because he was considered a dangerous radical and a threat to the country’s future. Such attempts, variously mounted by the SAS and the Selous Scouts were supplementary to and had no connection with Operation Quartz. The determination of Combined Operations to see them through was continually punctuated by vacillations. From what the author could determine, all these operations, certainly those mounted by the SAS, were planned at Combined Operations level and involved the commanders of the various services. It is remotely pos-sible a few were planned on a ‘private enterprise’ basis but it seems unlikely. In any case, if they did occur, it would have been with the tacit nod or a wink of higher authority. None of the assassination attempts ap-peared to have been particularly notable for thoroughness of planning. Perhaps, on the other hand, their failures resulted from information be-ing fed back to ZANU P/F. Most, but not all attempts have already been documented, but there were others which were aborted or abandoned while still in the planning stages. Ken Flower, although clearly involved in approving or vetoing such plans, made it clear in his memoirs that he did not regard plans to elimi-nate Robert Mugabe with favour. In a diary entry on 4 February, 1980 he wrote of vetoing three plans to eliminate Mugabe that had been put forward by ‘R’. Despite this ‘R’ and others contacted him the following morning and said ‘Plan No 3’ was too advanced to be stopped. When he ‘said categorically it had to be stopped or he would go out and stop it personally, and there was no other authority to whom they could appeal ─ R demurred’. ‘In the event I managed to stop the original plans,’ he said, ‘but not the massacre of fifteen or more wedding guests who should have played no part in this . . . it has never been our practise to approve the killing of innocents.’20 He was referring to an officially sanctioned attempt to lay the respon-sibility for atrocities at the door of ZANU P/F, when a party of Selous Scouts commanded by a captain ambushed a bus carrying fifteen of Bishop Muzorewa’s supporters who were returning from a wedding. They ruthlessly murdered them, killing them all with RPG-7 rocket and machine-gun fire. Another pointless operation born out of desperate reasoning, involved two Selous Scouts acting under orders, Lieutenant Edward Piringondo and a sergeant. They badly damaged the Presbyterian Church in Jame-son Avenue with explosives, blew up the Interdenominational Church, Borrowdale and St. Mary’s Anglican Church in the Harare African Town-ship. While fleeing the scene of the St. Mary’s atrocity, explosives in their car accidentally detonated and both were killed. The purpose again was to lay the blame at the feet of ZANU P/F, so they could be shown up not only as Marxists but as the anti-Christ. The main failing of this reasoning was that while ZANLA had systematically engaged in atrocities against the civil population and even men and wom-en of the cloth, they had never burned, blown up or razed churches. Ken Flower said it led ‘to sharp confrontation at top level ─ rap-idly resolved I’m pleased to say ─ between Peter Allum [Commissioner of Police], Peter Walls [Commander Combined Operations] and myself’. How it was rapidly resolved, the details of the top level ‘sharp confronta-tion’ and the final result remained unsaid.

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Look & ListenWelcome…

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 5, but due to snow and inclement weather it only left the forward mailer on Dec 22. So I have a plan that might help those of you with access to the internet on your own computer. I have just successfully sent out the first copy of Rhodesians Worldwide E-magazine to a subscriber. I tested this service with Hugh Bomford in New Zealand and he had no difficulties with opening the file and viewing the magazine. I am opening this offer up to those of you who would like to try this service not as a replacement to your printed copy, but in addition to it. The benefits are that you would get the magazine within a week of it being printed and all of the pictures would be in colour. The negatives would be that you could not print it out nor could you send the file on to others. If you would like to try this out there is a file that Adobe needs to identify your computer so you need to email me to request this service. I will open it up free of charge to the first 20 subscribers to contact me, with the option to expand the service if it is successful and if it proves popular. You will continue to get a printed copy in the mail and there will be no change in your subscription price at this time. Our email as always is rhodesia@rhodesia.org. As far as subscriptions go please bear with me through this information. Six months ago our UKP12 sub was netting US$22 today it is netting US$16. The Australian $30 sub was netting US$23, today it is netting US$18. This gives you an idea of the financial impact that this economic crisis has had on the magazine. We have already cut our costs to the bone to make the raising of subscription rates unlikely befoire the current economic crisis. In order to save some costs to the magazine we will no longer offer a dedicated fax number as we have not had a fax in nearly six months. As of April 1, 2009 if you need to fax something please call us first and we will set up a fax machine for you. The number to call is USA 480-924-0431 and the best time is in our evenings from 5pm to midnight. I am committed to keeping the subscription prices the same for the next six to nine months (2 - 3 editions), but I may have to raise them slightly after that time just to keep the magazine alive. Your comments as always are welcome. Your donations have been instrumental in the longevity of this magazine and I am incredibly thankful to those of you who send us a donation. Where not specified it goes to the running of the magazine. We will be publishing our income and expenditure in the next magazine so that you can see where the funds have gone. I am sorry that I cannot write individually to each of you, but my life and job just don’t allow that sort of extra time. The new unity government of Zimbabwe has been installed for a few weeks as I write this and it is a hopeful sign for the country, but doesn’t seem very productive at this time. I ask that you continue to pray for everyone in Zimbabwe and for an end to the brutalisation of the country and its people. As I write, Roy Bennett is still in prison and his arrest speaks volumes about the idea of a unity government. Please continue to support our aged pensioners both in Zimbabwe and South Africa through your donations to ZPSF and the FLF. If you have elderly friends or relatives there, please check on them regularly as there have been instances of people being too proud to ask for help and then starving or committing suicide. As always I apologise if I have left something of yours out-it is not intentional. Also all errors are placed in this magazine solely for the pleasure of those that wish to find them. Until next time... Sarai zvakanaka Chris and Annette Whitehead

Cover Picture: From The Heights-Kariba at its Fullest 1981. Picture by Mick HAWKES

Contents Rhodesia to Zimbabwe 1980 2 Look and Listen 3 The RWAF 4 1000 Club Report 4 Bush Telegraph 5 Book Review-Mugabe 8 Book Review-Plumtree School 8 Zimbabwe Pensioner Support Trip 9 Viscount Umniati 10 Rhodesian Independence Commemorative Medal 11 Northern Rhodesia Report 12 Children of the Veldt 13 Zimbabwe Round Up 14 Harare Central 16 The Rhodesia Herald 17 An Older White Zimbabwean Speaks18 Cowboys Don’t Cry 19 Bridges, Kiss and Tell 19 Speedway 20 Blast from the Past 20 A White African Reminisces 21 Sports in Rhodesia 22 Rhodesian Websites 23 Association Roundup 23 Cecil Mendham Ludlow 27 Rowcliffe Brown 27 Classifieds 28 12th Hatfield Scout Group 32 Contact 33 Cover Sheet Collage 36

Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.”Jesu akapindura, akati kwavari: Ivai nokutenda kuna Mwari. Zvirokwazvo ndinoti kwamuri: Mumwe nomumwe anoti kugomo iri: Simudzwa, ukandwe mugungwa, asingazezi ku-tenda mumwoyo make, asi achitenda kuti zviya zvaanenge areva zvichaitika achava nazvo.

Mark 11 22-23

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R.W.A.F. 1000 Club ReportContact: Mrs Mary Sawyers, The Orchard, Penbidwal Lane, Pandy, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 8EA.

UK. Tel: (01873) 890-744. e-mail: mary@sawyers4.fslife.co.uk

For those of you who haven’t yet joined our Lottery it’s a great way to help the Assistance Fund. Half of the proceeds of the lottery go towards helping those in need and the other half is paid out in prizes. For just £12 a year you can make a difference to someone’s life and get a chance to win a prize at the same time. The lottery is drawn monthly and the first prize currently stands at £103.80 Congratulations to the following prize winners:-

December 2008 DrawFirst D.A. Lockhart Hook £105.00Second Mary Todd Blaydon £51.90Third Liane Kettle Brakcnell £17.30

January 2009 DrawFirst W.M Watt Paington £104.70Second S. Evans Camberley £52.35Third A. Potter Bradford £17.45

February 2009 DrawFirst J.M. Borthwick Sudbury £103.80Second M. Stewart Alresford £51.90Third John Cripwell Calne £17.30

Consolation Prizes L.J. Cox BracknellMyra Kennedy ManchesterSusan Whittle Bolton

The Z. R. W. A. F. Registered Charity No. 802274

Report from the Chairman – STUART SAWYERS

Contact details – The Administrator, Vicki BOWKER,

P.O. Box 213 Lingfield RH7 6WWE-mail: vickibowker@mazoe.fsnet.co.uk

Greetings to you all. I hope you have had a good year so far and are not being unduly affected by the current recession. Here in Wales we have had the coldest winter for many years and are very much looking forward to more warmth and light. The Trustees had a busy December with Fund affairs and an extra meeting was held at the home of Chris and Debbie Tonge in the beautiful Peak District. You will note from the heading of this article that the name of our charity has been changed to Z.R.W.A.F. The name change was recommended by the Charity Commission. It does not in anyway affect the operation of the fund. This is both the registered name and the operating name. The name change does not in any way affect the other organisations in the Rhodesians Worldwide “Family”. A new website has been set up which contains information about the Fund and from which an application for assistance form can be downloaded. The web address is www.zrwaf.com. Since the Trustees meeting on 15th November the Fund has paid out nearly £9000 in awards and a further £6000 in Christmas awards to Rhodesian pensioners in the U.K. Over the past year we have assisted several pensioners from Zimbabwe to settle into the U.K. They were directed to Z.R.W.A.F. by the British Embassy in Harare. In addition, more Zimbabwe pensioners have been helped by the Royal British Legion and many have attended the Kent Branch meetings. There is also a steady stream of younger people who come to us for help in getting set up in the U.K. They are usually assisted by way of rent and deposit for accommodation or sometimes we provide second hand furniture from a stock of donated items. As mentioned in my last report, the Fund has been having to draw on its reserves over the past 8 months and we will be getting less in the way of investment income and interest in the present financial climate. I appeal to those of you who can, to make a donation to Z.R.W.A.F., preferably through the Gift Aid scheme, to help us continue with assisting former Rhodesians and Zimbabweans. We have been continuing to assist Zimbabwean asylum seekers through the drop in centre in London which is organised by the Zimbabwe Association. A big thank you to Big Ian who has collected clothing and furniture and delivered it to the Zimbabwe Association for distribution to needy asylum seekers. As reported in the December issue the 2008 Dinner Dance held in November was an enjoyable and successful event. The Trustees have decided that the 2009 Dinner Dance will again be held at the Calcot Hotel, Reading. This year’s event will be on Saturday 14th November, 2009. John O’Brien and the Berkshire Branch have agreed to host the event and make all the arrangements and Dan and Cherry Coetzee have agreed to handle the bookings. Our thanks to Dan, Cherry, John and the Berkshire Branch for their willingness to help Z.R.W.A.F. The costings will be discussed by the Trustees at their next meeting on 22nd February. The Mailshot for bookings and for the tickets for the Grand Prize Draw will be posted out in the summer. Finally, I wish to thank our administrator Vicki Bowker and all the Trustees of the Fund for their dedication and time given to the affairs

of the Fund and to helping our people in need. My best wishes to you all. Regards - Stuart

Pioneer Club 2009 Braai

July 24-26, 2009New Location:

Beechwood Park in Derbyshire.

Pioneer Club Website for booking forms and news is athttp://RPCUK.synthasite.com/

Call UKFor more details contact

Ian DIXON at email: ian@12buzz.comor call

Vicki BOWKER Phone UK 08703 708 704

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Bush Telegraph

Geraldine MORRIS wrote to us recently to tell us of her husbands, Edwin, death. She says that he passed as a result of a melanoma on his leg that they thought was cleared up. He was able to have a won-derful family reunion just before he was taken ill; it was the first time the family had all been together for 10 years. Edwin was a great supporter of Rhodesians Worldwide and both he and Geraldine grieved over the demise of their beloved country.

Mrs Josephine PADGETT (nee Stidolph) writes in response to Joy BRINK’s memories of the old Mac Murray Hall in the Grand Hotel, Bu-lawayo “Yes-yes- my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed many New Year’s dances and Balls in the old McMurray Hall – what a wonderful sprung floor it had (as did the dance floor at Hotel Rio – used to be known as the Round House, out at Lakeside, in Bulawayo. Many a time did we too, climb up to Worlds View to see the sun rise – (Long before petrol rationing – terrorists – and National Park entry fees to be paid in FOREX.) Many a film we used to watch at the Old Palace in Abercorn Street – (next to the Hotel) I was 8 years old when the old Empire Bioscope burnt down. It was situated on 9th Ave/Main St. It was an old wood and iron building. The fee was 6d to get in, and at interval we were served Marie Biscuits and fresh orange slices! My husband, Edward, served in the B.S.A.P. for over 25 years “

Rob EASTLEY writes “Life in Hervey Bay gets more difficult by the day as Bev continues to find gardening jobs for me to do, insisting I’m out of bed by 8am for breakfast each morning and then giving me

a verbal “list” of duties, enough to cut in to my cricket / tennis viewing until at least 11am! It really is not good enough for an old bloke like me. How-ever, that aside, we continue to love our new life here hav-ing friends visit,

visiting local friends, enjoying the glorious weather and constant over-night rains. The gardens are looking lovely, the dam is full and water-lilies currently in flower, we are picking our own bananas and mango’s, mandarins (naartjies) due soon, vegetables thriving in the huge green house and tall palms swaying in the breeze. Together with my Bev, what more could an old bloke from Bulawayo wish for?”

Jackie WATSON writes “Firstly I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009 from both Dennis and myself and sec-ondly I would like to apologise to you all for not sending my usual end of the year letter but unfortunately my Computer gave up the ‘Ghost’ mid Nov just before Dennis and I were due to leave for Mozambique. I took it to our Computer guy but he just said non fixable. Anyway we were in Mozambique for two weeks and got back on the 5th Dec, I phoned Terry in Zimbabwe to let her know we were back and she said she wasn’t at all well as she had gone down with Glandular fever. We were due to fly to Zimbabwe on the 20th Dec for Christmas, but when I heard she was so ill I went a week earlier flying on the 12th instead so was

only home for five days before taking off again. Dennis still came on the 20th. Tamsin also flew up with me she was a great help. Thank goodness we went when we did as Terry really didn’t look good when we saw her and she had absolutely no energy so couldn’t do much and had lost a great deal of weight. Terry was having Tamsin’s Dad and his friend to stay for Christmas as well (they arrived on the 24th from Jo’burg) and she was having 28 people (mainly family Watsons/Parhams) for Christmas day and we were all seated luckily she has a big house. Terry has two very good maids which was a great help. I worked quite hard too, but I don’t mind as it keeps me on my toes and I am not one for sitting around doing nothing. We made the Christmas cake which all the kids helped ice we also made mince pies, biscuits and all sorts of goodies for Christmas. I also covered cushions for Terry’s garden furniture which she had cut out and wanted to sew herself, but fell ill before doing so. Anyway we all had a wonderful time over Christmas and it was special for Tam to have her Dad and Ren there too; they had a ball. We all went to Nyanga for four days over New Year. That was a lovely relaxing time and it is still such a beautiful and peaceful spot. While we were in Harare we saw quite a bit of Dennis’s brother Willie and his wife Louise, also his sister Lorna who was up from Bulawayo. She was staying with her son Bobby and his girlfriend Tina. It was Lorna’s birthday on the 20th Dec so Bobby and Tina had a birthday dinner for her which Dennis and I went to and we had such a super evening. Terry and Gary’s three young ones are growing so fast can’t keep up with them any more. Riegan will be 10 on the 6th March and Ella 8 on the 15th March and Marshall turned five on the 7th Jan. He goes to boarding school next year, he is a real little ‘hood’ but loves Dennis to bits. Reigan and Ella were due to start school on the 12th Jan, but Zim being Zim, the schools were delayed going back by two weeks and only started yes-terday 26th as apparently there was some problem with school fees for the Government schools. R and E are at a Private school but the Gov wouldn’t let them go back either, it really is a shambles. I am not going to go into the Gov of Zim as you all know it is a complete and utter farce, but I do have faith that in the not too distant future things will improve. Always have to have hope. Surprisingly enough when we were there, the supermarkets were full of most things to buy. The one Spar was even open 24hrs but you could only buy in SA Rand or the US Dollar and most things were double to what we pay here, but I guess if you couldn’t get it in the past you were happy to see it. Never saw a Zim bank note the whole time we were there. As far as Cholera was concerned T and G have their own borehole so we were fine. As usual it is the less fortunate that suffer and Bob and his fat cats are allowed to put on an act and still get away with it. Anyway all in all we had a lovely holiday in Zimbabwe with the family, especially the kids whom we really miss as we don’t see them too often. Tamsin by the way is now 15 she is still living with her Dad in Jo’burg and is in grade 10 at Crawford Lonehill she does well at school and enjoys her sport still. All is well with Les, Howard and Reece they are still living in the Docklands area in London and are quite happy there. Reece turned 9 in Dec has really shot up, it looks as if he will be broad as well as tall. Les got a temporary job in May for eight months working for the Daily Mirror, as one of their employees went on maternity leave. The job has just come to an end and she is taking a short break before she looks for another one. Although in the economical situation it is not as easy as it use to be but I’m sure she will find something. With the cost of living now days she feels she needs to work otherwise it is a bit of a struggle. Reece goes to a private school too and they aren’t cheap. I really missed not having them with us at Christmas but at least we were with them Xmas 2007 and we all had such a great time then and also with my Aunts 90th last Jan. Les says they may try and come out in August this year so we shall see. On the home front all is well with Den and myself still in Cookhouse, still have the Garage and have now been here for 20 years, can’t

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believe it. The Garage is going along well and we can’t complain. We manage to go away quite a bit, last year we went to our place at Pomene in Moz three times April, Oct and towards the end of Nov. We also went to Zim in August when Dennis went on a fishing trip down in the Zambezi valley to G camp for ten days arranged by our son-in-law Gary. Needless to say this was a great high light for Den-nis as he hadn’t been in that part of the valley for about 30 years, so he was in his element. Gary took his boat and the fishing was won-derful like the good old days and when Dennis came back he couldn’t stop smiling. Gary also took Reigan, he so enjoyed the fishing too it was his first time there. I stayed in Harare with Terry, Ella and Mar-shall. We had a lovely relaxing time and did quite a bit of gardening as Terry was changing quite a few things then. We always go to Moz with Terry, Gary and the kids in April, but this year they are going Ski-ing with friends of theirs so that will be fun for them. Dennis, Gary and another friend of ours Warwick EVANS who also has a share in the Chalets at Pomene have just bought a new boat for the sea so there is great excitement. Dennis and Warwick are going up to Pomene on the 12th of March for two weeks to try it out. Another friend of ours Scott Branch who has an Avo farm not too far from Nelspruit has very kindly said we can leave the boat at his place, which will be a wonderful help to us as it is a long way to tow the boat from here every time. When we got back from Zim (5th Jan) we couldn’t get over how dry the area was as there had been no rain (and in Zim it had rained most days where they don’t really need it as there are no crops). All the stock farmers were complaining and it was quite depressing, anyway we did have a little yesterday but I think it was still quite patchy. We need to get an awful lot more so the rivers can start flowing and fill the dams, otherwise not sure what will happen. Bad for our business if the farmers don’t get the rain. The rest of the year was uneventful but I still enjoyed Garden Club, Study group, Pilates and a wonderful social time with all our dear friends we have in this area.

Maureen WOOD wrote in January “Dear Family and Friends, Nor-man’s surgery went very well yesterday. He went under the knife at 8.30 a.m. and it took 2 hours. The surgeon was so funny as he said that he tried to make the two hips identical. There was however, he said a 1/16th of an inch difference! After he left the recovery room about midday and we saw him in the room, he was talking and al-though a little groggy was amazingly alert about what was going on. At about 3 p.m. they had him up and wandering down the passage. Knowing that this hip was not as bad as the right hip was, it was still pretty amazing to us. Caryn our daughter from Germany and Hilton our youngest son were with us. Norman is in a great room where the section has just been opened for two days. The biggest Digital TV on the wall you could imagine. He is hoping that he will be able to come home on Friday. Thanks for the prayers. Love Maureen.”

Derek VAN DER SYDE writes “Re Captain CLEMENTS reference to Jack MALLOCH in your October–December, 2008 edition, the do-main of international politics was somewhat murky, but during the 70s, the French 2ieme Bureau (Secret Service) was active in all West African Francophone countries. Its head was personal counsellor to several Presidents including Gabonese President Bongo. Meanwhile French Military Intelligence representatives operating from the capi-tal Libreville, protected traffic taking place between Salisbury and Europe. Incidentally the CIA was also there! Captain Clements also mentioned Louis DEMONGE. He was a very interesting character, whom I first came across in the early 60s when Col. DENARD was being flown to Salisbury Central Hospital, where I worked in the ad-ministration, for treatment. The pilot had wanted to refuel enroute and was ‘persuaded’ by Jean-Louis to keep going to Salisbury Airport. In Libreville although he was station master, he kept a low profile and was very reticent about his own affairs, but conceded that if he set

foot in France he would probably face prison for some unspecified of-fences. More prominent in the trade brought by Jack to Libreville was Gerard, the energetic son of the owner of SODUCO, the principal agen-cy for the distribution of Rhodesian prime beef from the Cold Storage Commission under Nick SPOEL. This system was set up during Piet VAN DER BYL’s term as Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Rhodesian Government and carried through by a few highly motivated civil ser-vants who will remain unnamed. Captain Clements mentioned the pilots and flight engineers from Lufthansa. As an aside, these men were not vested in local politics and frequently needed intervention with regard to the airport staff, most of whom were of the important Fang tribe, who felt that their leaders should be running Gabon instead of President Bongo. Bongo was from a minority group, but chosen by the ‘Father of the Na-tion’ the first President, Leon Mba, to succeed him. So the Fang airport staff had to be treated with great tact, just one of the many realities of African politics. Salutations to all who served in one way or another in this fascinating moment of history.”

Piet VAN VLIET writes “Each issue updates me on the developments and activities of groups, individuals and clubs working to keep the spirit of Rhodesia alive. I am especially interested in the various books pub-lished and the stories of so many interesting people who built up the country and it’s people. The story of Rhodesia told in these issues of the magazine help to fill in the gaps in knowledge about how the country grew within the British Empire. I hope the current government will col-lapse so a new generation of leaders can begin anew.”

Peter and Margaret BARRETT write “Our Grand-daughter April, Nev-ille’s daughter, got married at the end of August, 2008. We were all very excited about this. Debby and her two daughters, Chantel and Shaina plus boyfriends went, also Angela and Lorna, but not their families. Peter and I were very happy to see them all together. The wedding was wonderful as it was held on board a paddle ship and they were married by the captain. On September 16th, Peter gave us all a big shock and had a heart attack. He had a quadruple bypass and stayed in hospital until the 25th. He is still on medication, but is progressing nicely.”

Celia ARMITAGE writes “Sadly my father, F. Bryan ARMITAGE, passed away on 13th July, 2002 and my mum, Vicky ARMITAGE, passed away on 25th September, 2008. My father was born in Fort Jamieson on March 4, 1921. He was the son of a farmer and former miner, my grandfather, Frederick Granville Arthur ARMITAGE. My Dad grew up on a farm and attended boarding school at Milton Boys School. I know he took a Bachelor of Science at Rhodes University in South Africa. After that he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where he studied Forestry. His attendance at Oxford was delayed four years due to the time he spent in the forces in the Second World War. My mother, Vicky, went to Rhodesia to be a nurse, from London, England. She had every intention of returning to London, but met my father and they mar-ried. They had two children, myself and my sister, Beverley. My father had a first wife, Tasia ATHENEOS, who sadly passed away at a young age, soon after they married. I am still in contact with her sister who left Zimbabwe to return to Athens, Greece, the home of their family. My sister and I were born in Salisbury, Rhodesia and we emigrated to Canada. We left behind a very dear friend, Abisha BLESSING, who later named his two daughters Beverly and Celia BLESSING after my sister and I. Should anyone know them I would be most grateful for contact information.”

Judy VINCENT writes “George KNOWLES and I had a wonderful trip to the UK and Europe in June, 2008. We did a nine day tour of Croatia and Slovenia and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we were on to London where we contacted Fran and Andy DAVIS who had recently moved to Wales from Harare. Fran’s daughter, Debbie, and her husband have moved to Dubai. We then assisted Ted CREED to celebrate his 80th birthday in Wolverhampton. That was great fun with Ted trying Thai food for the first time. Then we caught up with Tish VAAS and her daughter,

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Hilary, and husband, John, and their two boys. It was truly wonderful to catch up with fellow Rhodesians and see them doing well. Discov-ered a butcher in Stanmore, North London that was selling boerewors and biltong-Yah.”

Sandra HINDMARCH writes reagrding the RBC pictures in the last edition “Not too sure of first one - could it be Martin LOCKE in his VERY young days. Second pic - Nigel KANE. Third pic - John BISHOP. Have no stories relating to them, but loved them. So profes-sional! Thanks for the latest edition of RWW. Stopped working just to read it. Many thanks for all your hard work in getting this issue out to all of us. Always appreciated.

Rob MACLEAN of Cape Town writes “By the way, I found the DE VIL-LIERS Clan that I mentioned was looking for - Ian lives with his son John near Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast of Australia and Cyn-thia works for the IMF and is based in Washington D.C. Mrs de Villiers (May), the mother, passed away about 4 years ago and they confirmed that Dan, who was in my class at high school, had died of cancer about 10 years ago. How I made the contact was when I met an ex-Rhodie at a New Years’ Day function and we got talking about things in our past - he said that he knew Cynthia when she had worked in Swellendam in the 1980’s - I had started running river trips and canoeing the Breede River in that area in 1985, but had not made any contact, although since linking up with her I have established that she knew my brother-in-law’s brother! Anyway, this New Year Day contact linked me up with another ex-Rhodie in Somerset West and the rest, as they say, is his-tory, as contact was made after a break of about 30 years or so! In the Oct-Dec 2008 edition, in the Contact section there was a request from a couple trying to connect with Greg and Debbie ALVORD - well, I can tell you that Greg read it in the magazine and contacted them, as I did, because Greg was at Rhodes University with me and his wife Debbie is the sister of an ex BSAP buddy of mine, Tony GRANGER who lives in Shrewsbury in the U.K. and with whom I am in fairly regular con-tact. The people trying to find them live about 1 km away from where I am - in Marina da Gama, Muizenberg, Cape Town and also know my mother! I suppose where ex-Rhodies are concerned, it isn’t a small world - we are just everywhere!”

Pam GRAVES writes from South Africa “This story starts back in Bu-lawayo, in 1965. Bobby DIXON and Pam DARBY were good dating partners – friends, but not lovers. They spent a lot of their time at the Kumalo Race Track and, of course, at Fritz’ Drive-In, which was a fa-vourite hang-out in those days. As it happened, Bobby called Pam one evening, as he needed a partner for a party. However, as Pam had a previous arrangement for that particular evening, she introduced Bobby to one of her hairdressing students. Pam, at that time, was a part-time lecturer at Bulawayo Technical College – theory at the college in the morning, followed by an evening of practical classes at René’s Salon in town. Due to the fact that she could not accompany Bobby, she in-troduced him to Barbara, who subsequently became his wife. Bobby’s and Barbara’s happy marriage lasted some 38 years, until she sadly passed away from cancer and lupus in January, 2008. They had one child – a daughter – Lisa, in 1972. During the period from when Bobby and Pam had parted company, Pam had been twice married and twice widowed; had 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren, and used her married surnames of, first, Nel, and then Graves. She had spent 20 years in South Africa, then gone to the UK to care for her aged mother, who died in 2007, after which Pam decided to return to South Africa to be near her children and grandchildren. As the months passed, during which time Bobby became more and more lonely and depressed, he finally plucked up the courage to email friends who had sent condolences. Amongst these friends was one living in the UK, who replied to Bobby, giving him a list of mutual friends he had seen, over a period, in the UK. Amongst these names was Pam’s. From the moment Bobby saw Pam’s name, he had an instant memory flash, and pictured her clearly, particularly on one particular date when she had “dolled” herself up!

As a consequence, he replied to the friend in the UK asking where Pam was and, in return, received her email address. Nervous at first, it took Bobby about 2 weeks to pluck up the courage to email Pam. This, he finally did, on 31/08/08, and was rather surprised to receive a quick reply. Anyway, a gradual email friendship developed between them, building up to Bobby flying down from Bulawayo to attend the 3-hour endurance race at Kyalami on 22/11/08. However, he arrived 3 days before that and immediately went to see Pam. From then on, they were seldom apart until he flew back to Bulawayo on 30/11/08, with an amazing love having started to develop between them. Due to the fact that these 2 – both now in their 60s – could not bear to be apart, Bobby flew down to Jo’burg to be with Pam for the 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year, and this resulted in them pledging their troth to each other and becoming engaged! They are now work-ing flat out to get Bobby permanent residence in South Africa so that they can marry and share the rest of their lives together. Another happy Rhodesian couple!”

Joy BRINK writes “My respects to Peter SLADDEN in his commem-oration of our pioneers and thanks for the article written, I think, by Robert MERCER, but I must protest, please, the flag was raised at Fort Salisbury on 12th September, 1890 not 13th, verified by all the reference books I have here to hand. The flag was raised at the foot of Salisbury kopje. I’m sure I am only one of many who through-out our school years attended Occupation Day services on 12th September. In Bulwayo we gathered around Rhodes statue in Main Street on the intersection with Eighth Avenue. To this day I have clear memories of participating wearing various uniforms over the years, in many of the moving annual services. As the sun declined, the High Court was the back-drop for a gathering around the found-er, of City dignitaries, representatives from Schools, all branches of the scouting movement, St Johns, etc. etc. It was a great honour to be the scholar selected to recite the traditional Kipling poem... end-ing: ‘living he was the land, and dead his soul shall be her soul, the immense and brooding spirit still shall quicken and control’. Originally known as Occupation day, I believe the commemoration name was changed to Pioneer Day after Rhodesia became Independent.

Cheryl ALDRIDGE of RSA writes “I am a 3rd generation Rhodesian. My mom, Maureen MUGGLETON, and my gran both being Rhode-sian born. I left Rhodesia at the age of 19 went to the UK with my husband for 3 years and then South Africa where we have been for the past 25 years. We are now relocating once again, I hope for the last time, back to the UK where our children are now living. My mom passed away in Johannesburg on 31 July, 2007 and now that we are packing up to go back to the UK, I have been deciding what we will take and what we will ditch. My mom was a real die hard Rho-

die and kept many mementos. She started a hobby when she was 10 years old in the 1950’s of collecting newspa-per headlines. I have kept a few so that my children have an insight into their Rhodie heritage and have given some away to friends. One of the newspapers that I am going to keep as it has been signed by Ian SMITH on 31 May, 1979 - when Muzorewa was going to take over from 1 June. My mom arrived at Ian Smith’s of-fices and insisted she wanted to see him. She eventually got in to see him, as she was so persistent, and she told him of

5909 Jamie Openshaw5911 John Bagley5912 John Furnival5914 Mike FeenySquad Instructor 4753 Ted CutfieldNot bad after 50 years - (Ed: picture on the back cover)

Beulah FROST reports” Michelle FROST is a third generation Rho-desian, born in Bulawayo. She attended Hillside Junior before mov-ing with her parents to South Africa at the age of ten. Michelle is the author of the much loved poem “Homeland”. She now has her first book, “First Light” (ISBN-10: 1849232644), published and on sale on Amazon in all countries including China and Japan. Also in many book stores in the UK and USA.”

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her hobby and if he could please sign her copy of the newspaper on his last day in office. He was apparently very gracious, sat down and had a chat with her, signed the paper and then said “Mrs Muggleton I would love to chat but I do have quite a bit to do today!””

B.S.A. Police recruit squad 9/58 attested into the force on Novem-ber 3, 1958. It consisted of 14 members of which 10 were from Eng-land, 2 from Rhodesia and 2 from South Africa. We managed to get the following to celebrate the occasion of the 50th anniversary on 12th November, 2008 in Oxford, England. Aptly the occasion was celebrated in a converted prison, now a hotel - the MalMaisonThe following attended 5905 John Robson5906 Martin Wells5907 Pete Wilson

Book Review Book Review

MUGABE - Teacher, Revolutionary, Tyrant The book Mugabe, Teacher, Revolutionary, Tyrant, written by An-drew Norman is his accounting of what happened and Mugabe’s role in it. He tries to offer an explanation for “Mugabe’s willful destruc-tion of his own country.” Andrew Norman was born in the United Kingdom and was later educated in Thornhill High School, Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia. He returned to the United Kingdom to qualify to become a general practitioner at the Radcliffe Infirmary, in Oxford. After receiving a spinal injury he now writes books, biographies. As I started to read the book Mugabe, Teacher, Revolutionary, Tyrant two things struck me. The first on being the way the author, Andrew Norman, delivered the information throughout the book. In-stead of being dry and list-like it seemed to be easy to read and given in a straight-forward manor that most readers could understand and appreciate. Having said this, I have to admit that the first chapter was very unlike the rest of the book. The author was prone to sup-plying some information and then leaving off with a question. After about the third time Andrew Norman did this I was more annoyed than intrigued. A simple example of this is, “Is this really what he desired, or did he choose Marxism simply because of its diametric opposition to the capitalist system and practiced by Britain and the West, and, of course, by the white rulers of his country? Or was there yet another reason?” This being said he also delivers information with a punch, a no holds barred approach. An example of this would be his direct

quote from Mugabe in chapter sixteen, “The people cannot be fooled for long into accepting…” He followed this by listing ways in which Mugabe abused his power and even appropriated farms dooming the country to its current troubles. The second thing that troubled me was the lack of footnotes, and supporting information for the second chapter. Andrew Norman has gone to great pains to footnote and list the sources he used for each chapter and credit the pictures he used. To me this shows not only a responsible author but also a well -informed one. There was one chapter that lacked any footnoting and seemed to me more of a mem-ory and less of a statement of fact being that no footnotes were in-cluded at all for chapter two. The title of the chapter is, “A Humiliating Life Under Apartheid”. The title itself makes me wonder, seeing that Rhodesia never had the Apartheid polices that had been adopted in South Africa, where the information came from. It also has vari-ous inaccurate pieces of information included in it that were more relevant to South Africa at the time than to Rhodesia. That being said, I do believe that the book is worth the read and it gives one an understanding of Mugabe and his ambitions. It does not excuse him for what has happened but shows how he has been and is an important part of what has happened, and is happening to Zimbabwe now. The book, ISBN 978 1 86627 491 4, can be obtained at a cost of £9.99 plus shipping from The History Press Ltd. at www.thehistory-press.co.uk or from Andrew Norman at UK tel 01202-706198 or on email books@andrew-norman.com

Book Review Book Review

Plumtree School - In Memorium Some books defy being reviewed by their very nature. This is one of them, Plumtree School Southern Rhodesia In Memorium 1914-1918, 1939-1945, as it is truly a book dedicated to the men in this book and not a book that exonerated the one who compiled the information. This being said I think the only way for me to give the book the honour it is due is to reprint a portion of the Preamble. “What motivated me to put together this book? I went to Plumtree School in Southern Rhodesia wherein were the sons of many farm-ers who then themselves went farming. It had the reputation of being one of the finest schools in the world with fine English public school traditions. Fine sportsmen were produced who played for Springbok, Rhodesian, Oxbridge, and English country teams. In my day it pro-claimed to have had more Rhodes Scholars than any other school in the world. No longer. The last description of the school given to me by someone who was recently there was that it is now an “empty institution”, where all old records of past achievements are being torn up. This book expands on the records of the boys from this school who were killed in both world wars. As time goes by and records are de-stroyed, they too, will be forgotten. Their remaining family members

and friends have now been forced to leave Zimbabwe to seek a living in the four corners of the globe. They were not able to take their pos-sessions with them and had no compensation for property left behind. The next of kin of those who fought and died for Britain in these wars received no pension or compensation from Britain. . . I hope that this book will help keep alive the memories of those who feature in it. I find it very sad to stand at their gravesides and see the young ages they died. To come straight from school or leave an established job to come to Britain to fight in war was accepted patriotic practice in those days. At the beginning of 1940 Plumtree had less than 240 pupils. 92 died in WWII from over 650 ex OP’s who answered the call of duty. No next of kin got any financial help when their loved ones were killed. I know one O.P. (Old Prunitian), who has supported his mother for all his working life after his father was killed.” The author truly does a service to all that have served from Plumtree and to all their families. This book limited to 100 copies can be obtained from Ian MACDON-ALD, Cranford, Bracknell Lane, Hartley Wintney, Hook RG27 8QL, UK or at UK Tel 01252 843622 or on email ijmcdo@googlemail.com. The book is about 250 pages with colour photos on every page, hard cover with dust jacket. The cost price is £12.00 a copy and the postage is £10.61 worldwide, but much less in the UK or Europe.

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Zimbabwe Pensioners Support Fund

January 2009 Trip Report. Greetings to all friends, supporters, donors and all the other good folk out there. You were wondering if we are still existing, well yes, we are, and the first trip for the year was carried out by Hannes and I with the assistance of Otto Doman from Roodeport, of which I am led to believe, Johannesburg is a suburb of. Otto and I drove up in the new Nissan UD90 with the big trailer and did the long trip around Harare and outlying areas and back out through Masvingo whilst Hannes used the “Glory Lorry”, old faithful Dyna to do the shorter trip including, Esigodini, Bulawayo and Zv-ishavane. He also picked up on some late requests for medication to folk in Gweru and Kwe Kwe. We, Otto and I, cleared the border on Thursday 22nd at about 9 pm after an altercation with our clearing agents one employee who “MISSLAID” our import permits and we had to pay to have a new batch couriered to us overnight from Harare. Man, can it get more sinister!! Thank you to Dave Ellis, Patrick Scott Martin and of course their loyal Attendant cum Manager, Mr. Philemon who came in and spe-cially to help us after our protracted delay with ZIMRA. Thanks to Turville Kille again for opening up and assisting us in Harare on Saturday morning. You people are so considerate and good to us. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. We drove through to Masvingo arriving at 2 am on Friday 23rd and took in a well-earned quick nap to rise again and do our deliver-ies to the homes and depart by 10 am. We did our delivery in Chivhu and our good friend Mrs. Lennie Kirsten would not let us go on without the “have to have” cup of tea and cookies and a small “bag” for the road. Again I say, these dear folk don’t ever let you pass without sharing of their meagre sus-tenance keeping aside some dough and oil for the ones that help them. God is so good. You drive away washing down the cookies with tears. On arrival in Harare we met with our good friends Mike and Mari-on Futter whom ably run the task of distributing the goods we drop there. Their two sons made quick work of off loading the supplies we brought through and they organized that Anton Luis from Borra-daile Trust in Marondera, who were due in Harare early the follow-ing week, would pick up the goods we had for them.. That enabled us to run through to Malvern Trust in Mvurwi and do our customary visit and drop there. We spent the night with Phillip and Claire, being well ca-tered for in every aspect and paid in Zim $ for our ef-fort. Got Z$.100,000,000,000,000:00 by the way of 10 x Z$.10,000,000,000,000:00 (trillions) Actually, as I use these in pre-sentations he virtually gave them to me. I parted with a few Rand in exchange. Early Saturday 24th, we set off for Sunningdale home in Chinhoyi, on to Westview in Kadoma, spent some time with the folk and drove on to Kwe Kwe to overnight with Ken Connelly and his dear wife. They in turn organized a braai with some of the folk from Lynbrook as well as some of the outside folk we never get to see. We had a great time and a great feast. Thank you guys, God bless you. Early Sunday 25th we did our deliveries to Lynbrook and pro-ceeded to do Hubert Lee in Redcliff before going on to Gweru, did our delivery to Huisvergesig where the men folk were all at church and the ladies, bless them Lord, helped to disperse the hampers. We moved on to Shurugwe to do M.U.U.S Lodge. Here we were met by a bunch of happy people, really thankful to see us. Fortu-nately we always carry spare hampers and we were able to cater for 4 new folk not listed with us. We were again treated to tea and cookies by Fred and Sannie Vermaak who gave us a run down on

who’s who and so on. At this point I must add, at every stop we had, we were enthusi-astically thanked and ordered to pass on those thanks to all who made up Christmas gifts and gift hampers and parcels for all our Oldies throughout Zimbabwe. The men pulled out their pocket-knives and the ladies graced us with various sweet fragrances. Some even dried tears of thankfulness with their new feminine lacy handkerchiefs. Everyone remembered the Christmas fruit cakes and crackers. Well done to our donors of these items, countrywide. You made us look good. We returned to Gweru and spent the night with Otto’s friends, Pastor Peter Albasini and his wife who spoilt us with a really tasty meal of which I will not divulge any further detail, it was good. It is just wonderful how we are blessed on these trips with good food because when we started this outreach project some seven odd years ago, and even as recent as 2007, we were loathe to allow folk to feed us. It is amazing how God is blessing not only the oldies, but us too. He says in his Word, those who look after and care for the aged and needy will be blessed. It is so good to be doing His work and receiving His Blessing through the hands of the needy. God is good. Proverbs. 22:9, Proverbs. 28:27, Psalm. 71:9 and Leviticus.19:32. Some interesting quotes by “Mother Teresa” that help to motivate one away from “me and mine” to - - the needs of others; “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, I think is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than those who have nothing to eat. Our hugs cannot be measured in effort, give them where and when you can.” “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have, or how much money we have accumulated or achieved in the corporate world; we will be judged by - - “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, hungry not only for bread, but for love, was naked and you clothed me, naked not only for clothing, but for human dignity and respect; was homeless and you took me in, homeless not only for want of a room of bricks, but homeless because of rejection.” We, on these trips, are often confronted by such love in empty eyes that allow you to peek into the hungry souls of these dear, dear rejected loved ones who not only wait for their food ham-per, but more so, that honest hugging, yummy, resounding, “How are you. Good and glad to see you again”. On Monday morning the 26th we did Boggies in Gweru and there learnt that Liz Hatfield had just lost her hubby, Ron, three days prior to our arrival on the 21st January. We left our condolences, but it was a sad time. After some quality time with the folk, we headed for the border arriving around 4.30 pm and clearing out and back in S.A. in two hours. We were back in Duiwelskloof around 9 pm and Otto pressed on to his home arriving home after midnight. Hannes also had a good trip and met with some folk, namely Mr. M.C. Eloff and Mr. Frik du Preez from the Orkney area, who did some stops with him and saw what we do and how we operate. Hannes has also been talking to our clearing agent in Beit Bridge to streamline our border crossing in order to save time and money so we can be more efficient and run the trips according to schedule. Folks, that about sums up the January trip. We should be back up there mid March with the two Nissan trucks and maybe the Dyna too. Oh yes, our Danny boy, Daniel Koekemoer should have his Heavy duty truck license by then - - - go for it young man! Thank you all once again and God bless you all.Pastor Attie Botha.Cell : 0829012291 email : thebothas2@telkomsa.net

MAGAZINE DEADLINE The deadline for information for the next magazine is

May 15, 2009

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Viscount Umniati Lest we Forget

THE HERALDSALISBURY, TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13 1979Herald Reporters AN Air Rhodesia Viscount with 59 people on board crashed min-utes after take-off from Kariba late yesterday afternoon.There were no survivors. The full plane, which was followed soon afterwards by another carrying an overflow of passengers bound for Salisbury, came down about 46 kilometres due east of Kariba, in the Vuti Purchase Area. First news of the disaster came in a brief statement from the air-line’s general manager, Captain Pat Travers, which said a distress signal was made from Viscount VP-YND operating flight RH827 from Victoria Falls, Wankie and Kariba.

The arrow on the left marks the point where the Air Rhodesia Viscount crash-landed after be-ing hit by a heat-seeking terrorist missile on Sept 3. The arrow above right marks the approximate area where Flight RH 827 crash landed yesterday afternoon. “The location of the air-craft is known and it has

been established that there are no survivors,” he said. The aircraft, the Umniati was carrying 54 passengers and a crew of five. The crash site is only about 50 kilometres north-east of the spot where a sister Viscount, the Hunyani, was shot down by a ter-rorist missile on September 3. Thirty-eight people died In that crash and 10 of the 18 survivors were murdered by terrorists. Last night there was widespread spec-ulation that terrorists were responsible. However, no comment was available from Combined Operations Headquarters as to the cause of the crash, or on what follow-up operations are taking place. An Air Rhodesia spokesman said the Umniati took off from Kari-ba at 5 p.m. and the captain’s distress call was heard six minutes later. A spokesman for the Department of Civil Aviation said an inves-tigation team was being sent to the crash site to start work at first light today. The names of the crew were released later in the evening. They were Captain Jan Andre Du Plessis, married; First Officer Michael Thomas Moolman (37), married with two small children; air host-

esses Miss Kathryn Jane Creigh-Smith (29), Miss Caroline Lynette du Chemin (21), and Miss Regina Chig-wada (23), a trainee air hostess.

The spokesman said Captain du Plessis was born in South Af-rica and “served with distinction” with the South African Air Force in the Korean War. First Officer Moolman was “born and bred” in Salisbury. Our Bulawayo correspondent writes that Miss du Chemin and Miss Chigwada were Bulawayo girls. Miss Creigh-Smith was from Que Que. Miss du Chemin was Miss Eveline at the Girls’ High School in 1974. She was a ground hostess at Bulawayo Airport until about six months ago when she went to Salisbury to become an air hostess.Before joining Air Rhodesia she was on the staff of the Standard Bank, Main Branch, Bulawayo, and later on the staff of Raylton Post Office. Her mother is Mrs M. L. du Chemin of Neasden Avenue, Brad-field, Bulawayo. Her father is Mr David du Chemin of Montrose, Bulawayo. She lived with her mother and sisters, Deidre (19) and

Christine (14) until she moved to Salisbury. Miss Chigwada’s parents live in Mpopoma, Bulawayo. She began training as an air hostess on February 8 and was to have become Air Rhodesia’s fourth black air hostess. Miss Creigh-Smith was born in Que Que and attended Que Que High School. She worked for the Income Tax Department in Salisbury before joining Air Rhodesia’s accounts section. Later she transferred to the flying staff as a senior hostess. She had been a air hostess for about seven years. Within minutes of the crash report being received at the Air Rhodesia flight operations centre, the airline’s information centre was set up to handle inquiries — a grim repetition of the procedure on September 3. In the only comment from a political party sent to the Herald last night, a statement from the Zimbabwe People’s Party expressed sym-pathy. for the loss of life, and deplored the incident if it were an act of terrorism. The party’s secretary-general, Mr Lovemore Chiyangwa added: “If such acts of barbarism are to continue, the Transitional Government should think again on the necessity of having elections under such conditions.”

Dear God, how can we be brave for the dead?Herald Reporter Heather Silk I can’t believe we’re alive. Why we are alive and 59 people are dead. Fifty-nine laughing, happy, tanned people who had spent a few glori-ous, carefree days enjoying the fun and sun of Kariba. Why? We were all there. Loving it, frolicking in the lake and the pools, fluttering at the casino. Losing some, winning some. And loving it. We were away from the news, the incessant communiqués, the pressures of war-torn Rhodesia. We went to the airport together. Two busloads. Two little girls with tousled blonde heads sat in front of me. Sisters in a large family party I’d seen frolicking in the water, sitting at the pool-side, eating in the dining room. They’re dead. At the airport we queued together, milled around the booking clerks, checked our flights. Some were given red boarding cards We were given green ones. The red ones were for flight RH827, the green ones for flight RH825. We sat together in the departure lounge, drinking soft drinks, admir-ing tans, burbling on about Kariba and how it really was the Riviera of Rhodesia; how there was no need to go to the Seychelles. There was an English air hostess who chatted to one of our party. She was wearing stockings and it seemed so incongruous in the Kar-iba heat. She had recently been on a flight to Moscow, 50 degrees below, and was enjoying a trip to Rhodesia. She had missed the previous day’s flight and my friend urged her to hurry along. She had a red card. ‘Those on RH827, the early flight took off. There were 28 adults and four children left for the second flight. We were due to take off 15 minutes later. Then a light aircraft took off. We saw some people running for it, but we didn’t know why. It was a Police Reserve Air Wing plane. We boarded, shortly after five, jostling good-naturedly for the back seats — and ended up in the middle. We seemed to take off in a different direction to our sister plane, banking sharply to the right. We went over Kariba mainland and then, strangely, circled. I said, “we’re going back, there’s something wrong.” But we made a full circle and went out over the lake. It was haunt-ingly beautiful. The whole lake seemed to stretch out below us, the Kariba hotels, the dam wall, Zambia. We went up over the lake and then over Fothergill and Spurwing is-lands, and we circled again; and again, rising, with everything beneath us a devastatingly beautiful relief. The man behind me “It’s not often Air Rhodesia gives you a flip like