Special Report Transcript Episode 28, Section 4, Time 16:05

We stay north of South Africa’s borders. Tens of thousands of young white South African men fought in Namibia and Angola in the seventies and eighties as national servicemen, the so-called ‘troepies’ on the border were used shamelessly by the government as a way of boosting white patriotism and a laager mentality, essential elements in the apartheid façade. But the price was heavy, too heavy. Apart from all the hundreds of lives lost many former conscripts carry the scars of those wars to this day. This is a story of South Africa’s days of playing regional military super power in the late eighties when the full might of the Defence Force was used in central and south west Angola to defend UNITA against the onslaught of the Angolan government forces. It culminated in the now well-known confrontation of Cuito Cuanavale in 1987. This is the story of a family who lost a son but hasn’t dealt with their loss. They wanted to tell their story but stay anonymous because some members of the family haven’t even been told what exactly happened.

Notes: Max du Preez