'n Strategiese en operasionele beoordeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag (SAW) se oorgrens-operasies in Angola, 1978-1988
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Date
2009
Authors
Scholtz, Leopold
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Humanities, University of the Free State
Abstract
The cross-border operations of the South African Army between 1978 and 1988 were politically extremely controversial. There were several reasons why the Army undertook them. On a security-strategic level the South African government wanted to prevent SWAPO, a Marxist-Leninist organisation, to seize power in South West Africa (now Namibia). On military-strategic level it was meaningful to take the initiative and disrupt SWAPO before its insurgents could cross the border to South West Africa; also to support
UNITA in order to prevent SWAPO from infiltrating the Okavango and West Caprivi. These cross-border operations were successful in the sense that they prevented insurgency and helped to undermine SWAPO’s morale. In the end SWAPO ruled Namibia; the country, however, did not become a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship but a more or less libaral democracy.
Description
Keywords
South African Army, South African government, Cross-border operations, Insurgency, Liberal democracy
Citation
Scholtz, L. (2009). 'n Strategiese en operasionele beoordeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag (SAW) se oorgrens-operasies in Angola, 1978-1988. Journal for Contemporary History, 34(1), 57-80.