A major South African military offensive against Angola in July and further assassination attacks in Swaziland reflected the apartheid regime's continuing campaign of violence against independent Southern Africa states and South African exiles.
Early in June Minister of Defence General Magnus Malan warned Southern African leaders that South Africa would take what he called 'cross-border action to destroy terrorist bases'.
At the beginning of July SWAPO reported that a South African commando unit had been assembled at Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip in north-east Namibia in preparation for attacks on frontline states. The 200-strong unit which included foreign mercenaries was equipped with longrange communications equipment, rocket launchers and other weapons. It was supported by three regular companies of the South African army code-named Destroyer, Offer and Big Power based in the Kavango region and was provided with helicopter and air cover from the large Mpacha air base. Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Zimbabwe all border the Caprivi Strip.
South Africa mounted another major dry-season offensive against Angola in June and July. In the midst of this offensive Angola committed itself to continue seeking a negotiated peace settlement and rapid implementation of the United Nations plan for Namibian independence in talks in Luanda with the US government on 14-15 July.
The purpose of the South African aggression was to maintain a so-called buffer zone on Angolan territory in order to impede Angolan troop movements in the area and to facilitate infiltration from Namibia by UNITA.
The offensive was prepared in May. Six South African battalions comprising nearly 7,000 men carried out combat reconnaissance operations up to 250 kilometres from the frontier in the two south-eastern provinces of Cunene and Kuando Kubango. 32 'Buffalo' Battalion is permanently based in this area in support of UNITA. On 20 May a helicopter-borne commando unit blew up two sections of Angola's main southern railway line in the south-western province of Namibe, about 70 km from the port of Namibe. The aim of this attack was to stop passenger and goods traffic from the port to Huila province and to Kuando Kubango. The unit was prevented from attacking a large farm at Caraculo where there is an important development project for breeding karakul sheep. The SADF refused to comment on the attack.
The main offensive began on 1 June with a chemical weapon attack on Angolan troops. In early June the 53 Battalion attacked the farming village of Anhaca but withdrew after sustaining losses of men and materiel. The Officer Commanding the South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF), Major-General Meyer, acknowledged that a 'security force patrol' was pulled back after clashes at a FAPLA base at Anhaca. In Cunene and Huila provinces South African and UNITA troops massed in an extensive area in order to prevent supplies reaching villages and farms.
More than two battalions of infantry troops, 50 Casspirs, helicopters and artillery were used in the month-long encirclement of Ngiva, Cunene's provincial capital. By 17 July the South African forces had been forced to withdraw to the south.
As a result of continuous South African occupation and aggression since the eve of independence in 1975, thousands of Angolans have had to leave their homes and the local cattle-raising economy, once an important part of Angola's meat industry, has been dislocated.
The most recent attacks in Swaziland by assassination squads from South Africa occurred in May and July.
An ANC official, Theophilus 'Viva' DLODLO, was killed on 23 May when driving through a suburb of Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland. Two passengers in the car were also killed. Both were law students at the University of Swaziland, one South African, the other a Swazi woman. Another passenger, also a Swazi law student, was seriously injured and a Swazi schoolgirl, also in the car, has not been seen since the attack. The Prime Minister of Swaziland, Sotsha Dlamini, said the assassination was politically motivated and was planned and carried out by a group of armed men from, he implied, South Africa.
Two ANC officials were murdered, apparently by South African agents, on 9 July shortly after their arrival in Swaziland from Mozambique. They were Cassius MAKE, the youngest member of the ANC National Executive Committee and Paul DIKELEDI, who joined the movement after the 1976 Soweto uprisings. Three men travelling in a car with a South African number plate ambushed their taxi on the road to Mbabane from the airport. A Mozambican citizen travelling in the same taxi was also killed.
Funding for the South African Defence Force (SADF) increased by 30 per cent and that for the police by 43 per cent in the 1987/8 budget announced in June. Overall state expenditure was set to increase by 15 per cent, approximately that of the annual inflation rate.
Much of the military increase was allocated for armaments development for the army and air force in order to maintain military superiority over neighbouring states. Operational expenditure was also set to rise, particularly in the form of 'increased aid to the SA Police' - a reference to the use of troops to suppress resistance in black urban areas. The SADF described the increase as 'modest' and indicated that further budget increases were planned in future years.
The SADF's allocation of R6.7 billion represents 13 per cent of the total budget, but a recent study by the UN has calculated that actual military expenditure is about a third higher than the budgeted figure. The additional expenditure is hidden in the budgets of other state departments.
The massive increase in police funding is largely for the development of municipal and auxiliary police forces which have been set up for front-line deployment in black townships. The extra funds will also go towards the expansion of the regular police force.
Substantial increases were also reflected in the budgets for the government intelligence agencies and for 'custody and administration of justice'.
The increases will be paid for partly out of frozen funds originally intended for Pretoria's stalled debt repayments to international banks.
