1 Recce, volume 2. Alexander Strachan

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СКАЧАТЬ has fond memories of the Rhodesian phase. ‘Besides the fact that I enjoyed the work, I met lots of people and learnt to speak English well into the bargain … which would later stand me in good stead in Durban. On Saturday afternoons, in a jacket and tie, I would go with Isabel to the Owners and Trainers VIP box at Borrowdale Race Course for diversion. It was also an institution to go for drinks at the Monomatapa Hotel.11 Because of the upcoming election, additional Recces were deployed under cover in Salisbury, and on more than one occasion I had to broker peace between the Recce operators and the Philistines.’12

      On his return from Rhodesia, Col. Olckers was appointed as the SSO Ops Army at Special Forces. On 2 March 1981 he became the first commander of 1 Reconnaissance Regiment (1 RR), which originated from 1 Reconnaissance Commando (1 RC). He served as the commander until 30 March 1983.

      Apart from his strong leadership qualities, Olckers would also be remembered by his men as the proverbial ‘man’s man’. At the Bluff in Durban he dived with them and joined them in fishing at the whaling station. He was an outstanding sportsman and even played rugby for the SA Army.

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      Cmdt. André Bestbier, Olckers’s successor as liaison officer, comes from a family with strong military ties. His father was a WO1 in the SADF and his elder brother, Frank, an infantryman and paratrooper who rose to the rank of brigadier general. On top of that, his youngest sister is married to a former paratrooper and commander of 5 Recce, Col. James Hills. Bestbier started his initial military training in 1964 at the then Army Gymnasium at Voortrekkerhoogte. After that he inter alia did duty in Walvis Bay, South West Africa, and at the Infantry School in Oudtshoorn. There he underwent a ‘recce selection’ under Jan Breytenbach and subsequently also completed the basic parachuting course in Bloemfontein.

      His path was not always ‘strewn with roses’, and among other things he had a serious personal clash with Breytenbach, which, to his regret, caused a stiffness in their relationship. When he reported for the jump course in Bloemfontein, his reception at 1 Parachute Battalion was also by no means cordial. He nonetheless did his best to complete the course successfully, and passed it.

      Moreover, the following year he was transferred to 1 Parachute Battalion. Once again he was given a chilly reception by the commander and some of his personnel. But Bestbier performed his tasks to the best of his ability in his respective roles as platoon commander, company 2IC, transport officer, and commander of the parachute training wing. Throughout, he was focused and determined to reach the highest level in his field.13

      After he had completed the SA Army’s senior command and staff course in 1978, Gen. Loots informed him that he had to relieve Col. Olckers as liaison officer in Rhodesia. Until that happened, however, he first had to report to the Special Forces HQ to make the necessary preparations. He stayed in the KG VI officers’ mess, and Olckers briefed him on his tasks. These would mainly involve liaising with the chief of the Rhodesian armed forces, as well as with the chiefs of the army and the air force.

      Bestbier was also introduced to the chief of the Special Branch, whom he experienced as an exceptional person and considered to be of inestimable value as a colleague prior to and after the first free election. Every morning Bestbier attended the operational briefings at COMOPS. Consequently, he could pass on all information to MI and Special Forces. He had free access to various units such as the SAS, the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) as well as the air force squadrons. This enabled him to facilitate the Selous Scouts’ and the SAS’s liaison with Special Forces (Recces).

      In the lead-up to the first free election in Rhodesia-Zimbabwe, he could already draw up a contingency plan for rendering assistance if the new government should embark on retaliatory actions. Bestbier regularly flew to South Africa where he held discussions with generals Malan, Loots and Van der Westhuizen, Chief of Staff Intelligence (CSI). At the same time, he kept his personal planning up to date in case he were to be exposed as a representative of the South African security forces.

      After the withdrawal of the South Africans – the Recces and air force pilots – Bestbier stayed behind in Rhodesia for a while and still attended the briefings at COMOPS. During his visits to South Africa in that period, his discussions focused specifically on how Special Forces could accommodate the Rhodesians – the SAS and the Selous Scouts in particular – in South Africa after independence.

      It was decided to fly sensitive items and equipment out of the country from Fylde airbase. Four C-160 and C-130 cargo planes of the SA Air Force were used for this purpose. The Rhodesian personnel had to drive to South Africa under their own steam. Members of the Selous Scouts would go to 5 RC at Phalaborwa, while the SAS would be accommodated at 1 RC in Durban. The motivation for the removal of the sensitive items and equipment was to hamper the ‘new’ Rhodesian special forces – now Robert Mugabe’s defence force – in their deployment possibilities.

      The Rhodesian conflict came to an end in December 1979 after constitutional negotiations between the Rhodesian government, Britain, Mugabe and Nkomo at Lancaster House in London. All the parties signed the Lancaster House Agreement, and Rhodesia was temporarily placed under the control of Britain and the Commonwealth.

      Bestbier was still in Rhodesia at the time of the election in March 1980 that took place under the supervision of Britain and the Commonwealth. Following Zanu-PF’s election victory, Robert Mugabe was inaugurated as Zimbabwe’s prime minister on 18 April 1980. Mugabe called in all the senior officers, including Bestbier, and requested them to stay on and to support the country. Bestbier wore his full Rhodesian uniform every day and passed himself off as a Rhodesian.

      Although South Africa had lent assistance during the first democratic election, the relationship with the RSA was very tense. The expectation in Rhodesia was that South Africa would intervene if the outcome of the election was not to their liking. This hostility had built up gradually and intensified after the election, with the result that the majority of South African citizens, as well as numerous Rhodesians, left the country. All these factors contributed to a further heightening of tension in the country.

      Loots and Van der Westhuizen instructed Bestbier to be prepared ‘to withdraw at great speed’.

      ‘I carried enough money and my passport with me at all times,’ Bestbier recounts. ‘One morning in August 1980, just after the morning session at COMOPS, my friend at Special Branch phoned me. All he said was, “André, get out … Now!” I took my leave and said nothing further, only Gen. Walls knew. Apart from saying goodbye to me, he didn’t say anything. With my hand luggage, I rushed to the airport in Salisbury where I bought a ticket for an SAA flight. The passengers were already boarding. I was the very last person to board the plane.’

      At the airport, Bestbier had hidden the keys of the liaison officers’ car – an old Peugeot14 that had been put at their disposal – under the seat. On landing in South Africa, he requested his contact at the embassy in Zimbabwe by phone to remove the car. He also contacted his secretary at COMOPS and learnt that 20 minutes after the plane had taken off, Mugabe’s new Special Branch had arrived at the office to arrest him. They had found out that Bestbier was a South African officer who had supported the old Rhodesia.

      In Pretoria, he briefed the staff of CSI, Gen. Loots and Gen. Malan on the situation.

      After his stint in Rhodesia, André Bestbier was deployed to the Special Forces HQ as SO1 Ops15 under Hans Möller (then the SSO Ops Army at the Special Forces HQ) in August 1980. This was where he was summoned to Gen. Loots’s office one morning in February 1981. Loots informed him that he had to go to 1 RC in Durban to take over the command of the Recces from Cmdt. Jakes Swart.16

      Bestbier regards his transfer to 1 RC (and later 1 RR) as the best thing that could have happened in his life because it opened up completely new horizons for him. СКАЧАТЬ