A campaign has been launched by the regime in schools in the western part of Rhodesia, in an effort to staunch the exodus of African school students into Botswana. According to figures issued by the regime, more than 1,000 school-students crossed the border over the period August 1976 to March 1977.
The campaign is intended to "win hearts and minds" by building "a new understanding and trust between security force personnel and the children". Small specialised teams headed by "men trained in psychological warfare" began visiting hundreds of schools in the Gwanda, Plumtree and Wankie areas in February. The whole exercise is expected to take at least 15 weeks and is aimed particularly at the older children. The routine, identical in each case, is for the school to be 'cleared' by armed escorts who then mount guard on the perimeter fences as the psychological team moves in. The children are asked to write essays on "subjects such as abductions, terrorism, and the security forces", and prizes are awarded to each grade winner. Young children are taught songs and dances while a trained medic is also in attendance. The "lesson" ends with the school being addressed by an African police sergeant who "briefs the children on the functions of the Army. What assistance it can provide to the local population, terrorism and the fate of those who become terrorists."
In the eastern areas, more than 25,000 African primary school pupils are missing from the rolls of mission and African Council schools in Manicaland. Absences are most acute in the Holdenby, Manyika and Maranke TTLs around Umtali. There are indications that guerillas have been asking parents to boycott schools while many students are continuing to escape across the border into Mozambique. The response of the regime has included dropping about 10,000 leaflets from Air Force planes onto TTLs in the eastern region, warning parents that if children are not enrolled they will forfeit their schooling until the end of the year. Schools will be closed down and teachers removed to other areas. Security forces were also reported to have carried out a large-scale "skyshout".
On 9 March, the Salvation Army's Bradley Institute, an F2 Secondary School with about 260 pupils in the Madziwa TTL north of Bindura, was closed down on the instructions of the police.
In an interview with the Rhodesia Herald the regime's new Director of Psychological Warfare, Major-General Andrew Rawlins, has indicated the main targets of his department's operations:- * the guerillas themselves, using leaflets and "surrendered terrorists who have seen the error of their ways". "We must probe his (the guerilla's) weaknesses, problems and worries, and undermine what he has been brainwashed into believing by his political commissars." * groups hostile to the Smith regime, mainly outside Rhodesia. "These groups must be countered, neutralised, and their support for the terrorists alienated." * "Rhodesia's friends" - "because someone is friendly doesn't mean he no longer needs looking after - he still needs encouragement." * the "uncommitted" again mainly outside Rhodesia. "We must bring them over to our way of thinking."
Rawlins said that his main task was to coordinate the work of the agencies, including the Army and the regime's information department, already working in the psychological field. The many people on the ground "reassuring people in protected villages, missions and schools in the operational areas" needed to be brought together and "pushed out on a bigger scale," he said.
