Episode 41 – A Rhodesian Airlines Viscount downed at Kariba and an old Zambian man stares down the SADF

This is episode 41 and we’re dealing with events in 1979. One of these as you’re about to hear involve a Rhodesian Airlines Vickers Viscount that was shot down – and the SAAF was involved in the response. That was to target a ZIPRA base in eastern Angola. While the new year of 1979 began relatively peacefully, that changed in February when 250 SWAPO soldiers crossed the cutline into South West Africa. The summer rains had been good – and then on the 13th February a blinding rainstorm saw insurgents attacking Nkongo Base which was 15 kilometers from the border. However the assault was a glancing blow and SWAPO melted away almost immediately. The rain cut visibility and washed away their tracks so follow up operations were further hampered. But they’d be back as you’re going to hear. PW Botha was the new hawkish Prime Minister who took over from BJ Vorster who was presumed too soft by the militarising National Party. Pretoria was bristling for a fight and SWAPO’s cross border attack led to a few diplomatic messages being exchanged while in the background, Botha’s government was preparing for another invasion of southern Angola. The situation in Rhodesia was approaching resolution in 1979 as Ian Smith accepted the idea of Majority rule for the first time, and he also accepted the concept of a transitional administration being set up. The ferocity of the conflict there, the pure blooded viciousness had shaken those covering the war as journalists. Nuns were raped and bayoneted to death along with children, civilians were caught in the middle of the struggle. The South Africans like the Rhodesians sought revenge because the commander of the Air Rhodesia flight 827 Viscount was former SA Air Force pilot, Jan Andre du Plessis. And now a retaliation strike on a ZIPRA camp near Luso in eastern Angola was planned.