SAS Action in Africa by Michael Graham

Author:Michael Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Special Forces
Publisher: Pen and Sword/Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2019-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Return to Angola

For three days and nights, Special Branch police interrogated the captured ZAPU terrorist we had brought back from Chipepo.

Their interrogation techniques were not cruel and brutal, but they would wear down and demoralize a prisoner until he reached the stage of exhaustion and despair. The prisoner’s jaw had been broken by the butt of Nelson’s RPD, so he was physically uncomfortable from the start. On the third night, he asked to be allowed to sleep and promised he would tell all next morning.

And he did.

His name was Isaac Ngonyama, he told Special Branch. Then he proceeded to give an account of his journey that had started at The Church of Orphans in Bulawayo; his time in Lusaka; of being sent to the Ukraine and then to Luso in Angola for training on a secret weapon.

The interrogation team stopped him at that point and produced the zip-up canvas bag we had brought back.

‘Is this the weapon?’ they asked, handing him the bag.

Isaac undid the zip and removed the Strela.

‘Yes,’ he said, caressing the launcher.

‘Show us how it works,’ they ordered and Isaac obliged, demonstrating and explaining the missile launch sequence.

His interrogators were pleased. ‘Would you like a coke, Isaac?’ they asked.

He was given one and was also offered a cigarette. Isaac relaxed. But now it was crunch time.

‘Was it you who used this weapon to bring down the airliners?’ demanded one of the officers.

Isaac admitted it at once, and went on to describe how he had been presented to ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo after the first strike.

‘So was it Nkomo and the ZAPU hierarchy that planned the airliner attacks?’ they asked.

‘No,’ replied Isaac. ‘The German at Luso told us to be very specific with our targeting, but at that stage we had no firm plans and were mainly thinking about shooting at Rhodesian Air Force planes and helicopters. I got the idea of bringing down the airliners from the ANC man, who said they were going to use theirs to shoot down one of the new South African Airways Boeing 747 jumbo jets in Johannesburg.’

There was a stunned silence as the interrogators realized the significance of what Isaac had just told them.

‘The ANC were at Luso?’ they asked incredulously.

‘Yes,’ said Isaac. ‘There were twelve of them, but only one was trained to use the Strela like me.’

On night five, Isaac Ngonyama was sedated with a tranquilizing injection. Handcuffed and in a semi-conscious state, he was put on a boat and taken ten kilometres offshore from Kariba.

With no comprehension of what was happening, Isaac was dropped into the deep, dark waters of the lake.

With the capture of the ZAPU gang member and the recovery of the Strela, the brigadier decided to stay on in Kariba with Bob Ellis and his sister to monitor events as they unfolded. He knew they would get good intelligence from the capture, but never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the news from Special Branch when they met on the fourth day.

An air force plane took him back to Salisbury later that morning.

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