Episode 62 – Rhodesian SAS and the Recces plan an assassination attempt on Robert Mugabe codenamed “Lark”

[Music] Welcome back to South African Border Wars with me, your host, Desleyton. This is episode 62. We're going to spend some time focusing on seaborne operations and the wreckies. Most of their ops were top secret, and some are literally mind boggling. Like the attempt at assassinating Zanu leader Robert McGarby and Maputo, for example. For some time, the Redision's Central Intelligence Organization, or CIO, had kept McGarby under close scrutiny in Maputo. The Redision Bush War had become a bitter struggle, and civilians were the main targets by 1978. Joint operations involving the South Africans and the Redisions were taking place, while the political arrangement between the two countries was "cold" to put it mildly. Negotiations were taking place for a peaceful solution to the Bush War, and at that stage, Robert McGarby was not part of any negotiated settlement. Things changed later, as we know, but he was always a reluctant participator in any peace talks. As a Marxist, he preferred the bullet to the ballot box. Where it filtered out, though, that Josiah Tongogara, the commander of McGarby's and while the African National Union military wing called Zanla, was more moderate and maybe coaxed to peace talks. If McGarby could somehow be removed from the picture, at least that was the Redision's stated ambition when they approached the South African government to assist in murdering McGarby in 1978. Things were getting messy up north, taking McGarby out, and miraculously bringing Tongogara into the picture as a moderate, was wishful thinking at best. Tongogara would have been radicalized by the Redision government shooting his political leader in his Mabuta home, so I think the reasons proposed by Salisbury are long way from the truth. Had Tongogara suddenly changed direction once McGarby was dead, it would have looked very bad for him politically speaking. The reality was, McGarby was already one of the most likely candidates for futures involving prime minister, and he was visibly hated by white Redisions. Just to add fuel to that fire, in September 1978, a particularly horrific incident took place. The shooting down of an air-radizia vacant near the Victoria Falls, following which 10 of the 18 survivors were systematically killed by members of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army was Zipra. This was the arm-dwing of Joshua and Cornwall's Zimbabwe African People's Union and Salisbury promptly ended peace talks with him. They also dusted off a plan to assassinate in Cornwall in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, calling it Operation Bastille. Lusaka was assured up over the border compared to the Special Forces Operation to kill Robert McGarby. This hit would be far more complex. McGarby was living in a swanky Mabuta suburb, his home around half a kilometer from the beach, but Redision Intelligence believed his patterns of movement made it possible to take him out. McGarby's residents had been cased by a spy living in Mabuta. As you go to hear, his or her intelligence was not very accurate. A high-level request from Salisbury was made to Pretoria. They needed help to land a team of eight Special Air Service or SAS operators in Mabuta. Then to extract them once the deed had been done, the hit was codenamed Operation Lock. Given the plans, it's quite ironic because the lock starts singing just before dawn during the dark hours, like this op, and the plan was for four recce to land the SAS raiding team from Submarine or StrikeCraft. The attack was scheduled for November 1978 and would be blamed on internal feuding within Zainu and the attackers, which would leave documentation incriminating Josiah Dungogara. Now this is where the strategic aims clashed with the tactical. If the redisions really wanted to negotiate with the moderate leader of Zainu, then leaving paperwork implicating Tongogara was possibly not the cleverest ploy, he would know that the hit was carried out by the redisions, so with the rest of Zainu. Just out of interest, Tongogara lived in the farm owned by the parents of Ian Smith, redisions last Prime Minister. The redision Bushwar always had a sense of intense personal vendetta about it. While the SADIF helped the SAS and the redision army, Pretoria was playing its own game. They had already joined Washington and calling for a negotiated solution to the redision Bushwar. I won't go into the complex political shenanigans at this moment. Our story today is about how the SADIF and the redision army were working closely behind the scenes. In October 1978, the redision SAS Zebra Group, and the command of two RC major Graham Wilson, flew to Longaban in the cape, where they received basic boat training and sea survival techniques. They'd be using the small Zainu Mark II inflatables standard four-recky equipment during these years. After a few practice sessions on the open sea, it was clear that these tiny boats, powered by 40 host-power single-outward motors, were hopelessly out of their league. The attack would be launched from northeast of Inyaka, Ireland, in deep water, where the sub could hide, but that meant the run-in to the beach was going to be close to 40 kilometres. The Zodiaks also had to be armed with an RPD machine gun, or an RPG7, or both, to see off any Mozambique boat patrols, but its tiny floor space meant the Zodiak couldn't carry six men plus all this equipment. Then the redisions changed the size of the raiding force from 8 to 10. They were going to be joined by an ex-Zan La Fata, who'd been turned, and he would guide them to McGarby's residence. He also knew Zan La security procedures and had to be part of this assault team. So the South African Special Forces bought four new and larger Zodiak Mark V inflatables with two outboard engines, these could carry up to 12 men. Training on the new larger Zodiaks took place at the newly formed patrol craft squadron at Salisbury Island in Durban. A ramp was installed, allowing these craft to be carried on the deck of the fast strike craft patrolbirds and dropped into the ocean quickly. The idea was to carry out the attack, get the men back to safety, along with four wrecky support team, sink the inflatables and the outboards, and then flee back to Durban. The date was set for late November, 1978, and the Navier-San, the Johanna-Vandamara Submarine and the Kamona-Krunovalt, and the Israeli-designed strike craft P-1562 under Commander Errol Masihix to the mission. Captain Peter Foxtit, an expert in the use of submarines and shallow water, was Operation Commander, while Commandant Malcolm Kinghorn of the Four Rikki OC, acted as the mission commander, and the SAS's major Wilson would be the raid commander. They still didn't know exactly what awaited them on the beach, so decided to send four wrecky team along with Major Wilson, and one of his operators to the target area by submarine. They had launched two Zodiac Mark IIs and then surveyed the beach. This reconnaissance group headed off in mid-November. Meanwhile, back in Durban, the hitch had developed. The Mark V Zodiacs wouldn't fit on board the P-boat, which meant they'd have to be assembled before launch. That would take too long, the Zodiacs had to be pumped up and ready to go, as they arrived offshore. This meant a new sea-saw-style ramp had to be built in a few days, led by Squadron Engineer Commander Jack Nell, who literally designed this new system on the back of a 30s pack of cigarettes. Ramp already, the SAS Zebra Group was brought on board P-1562 in the dead of night, a few days after the Johanna had departed, and around midnight the patrol boats slipped out of the harbor. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad when the submarine arrived to conduct the wrecky that Major Wilson and his team were forced to spend two days waiting for Zebra Group and the wreckies on the strike craft heading their way from Durban. Johanna dived and headed south to transfer the four wreckies and SAS operators to the P-1562 for the Operation Proper. They were well out to sea, out of the shipping lanes, when P-1562 established contact with the sub the next day, and the teams gathered on the patrol boats deck. At 22 minutes past 6 in the evening, they received confirmation that McGarby was in his residence, and P-1562 began heading into Maputo in the fading light. As the last rares of the day dimmed four wreckies, boat team rigged the two ramps and assembled the Zodiacs. Zebra Group climbed aboard, then the two inflatables headed off at around 20 knots and a strong easterly wind which chopped up the sea. It wasn't long afterwards that they headed back. One of the boats, floorboards, had worked loose and the Zodiac was in danger of breaking up. Back on deck and after all the trouble, Commandant King Owen had to cancel the mission. It would take too long to fix the problem. Instead of sinking the two Zodiacs, which was the original plan, they managed to tow them further out to sea, and then load them back onto the strike craft, along with their artboard engines. It was back to Durban and back to the drawing board. Things were not finished. A couple of weeks later, towards the end of December 1978, a second attempt was made to kill Mugabe. The Ina would be the support sub once again, but the P-boat was changed to 1561 and the Commander Tony Cole. Operation Lock 2 was approved and would be conducted just before Christmas Day, 1978. The submarine had sailed back to Cape Town. It was restocked, then turned and sailed back up the coast to Durban. It was now heading for Ponte de Auro, but soon after leaving Cape Town, one of the two diesel engines overheated. Engineers on board fixed that, but then the other. overheated as well. Checking along at half speed, there were around 120 nautical miles from East London, and things suddenly got worse. The sub's batteries began discharging, and it was forced to change course for the boat. It took 28 hours to reach East London, eventually the Irina slipped into Harbour just after midnight. Another day wasted, as it was refitted, this time in full view of people wandering around the Harbour. The SADF thought about cancelling the operation, then it was thought that hiding in plain sight was cleverer, after all South Africa was on a wall footing, and subs were popping up all over the place. Eventually the Irina slid out of East London Harbour on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, the strike craft pee boat in Durban headed off for Mozambique on Christmas Day. The Irina and pee 1561 run their route out to see off-bunted the auto on Boxing Day, where the crew discussed options then moved to the seaward side of Inyaka Island for the night raid. At Sundan the teams boarded the two Zodiacs and once again headed off for Maputa, and once again the floorboards came loose and they headed back, but this time they were determined to fix them and then try again within 24 hours. A day later the two Mark V Zodiacs were dispatched and made their way to the landing beach in the Polona Channel, where the raiding team clamoured off and hurried into the dark. The Zodiacs withdrew and anchored near Sanbank around 50 meters off the beach in the dark. At times the Rekizan board saw soldiers moving on the beach, and the South Africans fiddled with the silenced AK-47s hoping they wouldn't have to use them before the return of the SAS. The Special Air Service raiding party made good time towards McGarby's residence. It was pitch dark, no one was moving, and there was no sign of any security. The turned Zonu soldier hustling along with the SAS team said there was no way McGarby would be at their residence if he didn't have a security detail. The raiders crept around his property, and instaked out the building for an hour, still no sign of McGarby. They headed back to their awaiting Rekiz in the Polona Channel. Within two hours everyone was back at the strike craft, the Zodiacs were pulled on board along with the outboards, and then they headed back to Durban. The mission was a failure, although the practice had been good. Once they docked in Durban Christmas presents, were handed around, provided by the Southern Cross Fund, the Dunkey Dunnies, or thank you aunties, as they were known, and a debriefing session followed. The SEDF announced that the P-boats, their small quick-moving strike craft, were extremely useful. They also knew that they could launch and recover the larger Zodiac Mark Vs while the coordination between the strike craft and the submarines was working well. The Redisions didn't give up. McGarby was a high-value target, and the SAS was determined to get rid of them. And so only two weeks later, in January 1979, another operation was planned this time without the sub. Only the strike craft P-boat would support the operation, and it was given the codename "Boggin." This time the SEDF would provide a buswalk light aircraft as comms support, and two Puma choppers would be on standby for a recovery mission, if required. So it was then that on the 11th of January 1979, four Recky met with the P-1562 strike craft under Commander Massey Hicks, and the raiding party was increased from 10 to 12. Three Zodiacs would be used this time, each had a crew of three as well as a team leader, who would have tenent jibber, two IC'd have tenent foree, and staff sergeant buttes. Two additional operators would be taken along and reserved as well as two highly qualified medics, Dr. Buck and Dr. Fenter. The four Recky team in their gear was flown to Durban from Langabane and Dakota's, where they loaded everything onto P-1562, and then sailed for Mozambique at 2200 hours 15 on the 18th of January. Having depended on the weather now, and by the time they arrived off Maputo, the wind had increased 15 knots. It was still safe enough to launch, and it took a swift 15 minutes to load up the three Zodiacs, and then the raiding party was off once more. They arrived at the landing beach at 21 hours 45, and then, spending some time checking all was well, the raiders actually hit the sand at 23 hours 30. The mission was very much a go. Fishermen could be seen in the dark, and they spotted the raiders move ashore, but the men with their small boats and rods ignored the attackers, probably thinking they were Mozambique special forces. The SAS moved quickly across the beach, and then up to Avanida Dammarginal, heading for Mogabi's house half a kilometer into suburbia. The boats moved further offshore out of the air-shot. There was no moon and the windy weather meant most people were staying indoors. The raiders arrived at Mogabi's Maputo home at Midnight, and planted an AK-47 rifle on the property. This was part of the plant to make it look like an inside job, although which attacker leaves who's or her AK-47 lying around, I ask. A moment later, drunken night watchman lurched out of the shadows from a nearby house, but the raiders ignored him, and he shrugged them off as well. The raiders were in our surrounding Mogabi's house. It was dead quiet. No one was at home. After waiting half an hour, the SAS headed back to the beach after retrieving their planted AK-47. It was a Friday night, perhaps Mogabi had gone somewhere for the weekend. As the raiders walked back, two men suddenly appeared in the dark, asking for help to push their car which had broken down. It was a bizarre situation. The SAS politely declined an increased speed heading to the beach. It was clear that so far so good, in spite of civilians everywhere. Eventually, they made it to the pickup point, about 100 metres from the fishermen who were still casting their lines and still ignoring these strange men wandering around in Mogabi's beach before dawn. The zodiacs popped up, the SAS climbed aboard, they headed out to sea. At first, they couldn't find P-1562, and their blood pressure went up. But 15 minutes later, the zodiacs and the strike craft rendezvous by O-445, their equipment had been offloaded. But the summer sun was rising quickly, and the P-boat was only seven nautical miles offshore. It would be visible against the sun in a few minutes. In a snap decision the commander put out two lines, the strike craft turned out to sea, towing the zodiacs at a stiff 33 knots. That was a few knots too fast for these boats, and one burst a kill. Lieutenant Yabeh, who was on board, decided to send the boat to Davy Jones locker, and burst the other pontoon with his knife, a blast of air knocked him backwards, but he recovered clamoured onto the strike craft, and watched the zodiacs sink in one hundred meters of water, along with its two engines. They still somewhere off in Yaka Island. By O-600, the other two zodiacs were packed on board the strike craft, and they headed south back to Durban arriving that night at 8pm. It was clear that the zodiacs were disappointment. They were prone to damage during loading, they couldn't handle a powerful Indian ocean when loaded or empty, and it was apparent the special forces had to use a boat with a rigid hull. The SAS doggedly pursued their plan to kill Mugabi. At that time, early 1979, another Israeli-built strike craft had just arrived, known as the P-1563. Another core P-1564 was also available. This one was named Jim Fushir, but it had been constructed secretly inside South Africa. Reckys Seaborn ops had been given a shot in the arm by the arrival of these extremely useful Peabirds. And that was fortunate, because one of the more momentous ops awaited, Operation Dairy set for March 1979. This was another combined up with the Redision SAS, and the aim was to hit Barer's diesel and petrol storage depot, and this time the SAS and the Reckys would raid together. They wanted to destroy the fuel storage tanks in the Manhava oil depot, which was a couple of kilometers, outside the Mozambique and Portana of Barer. The raiders weren't just after the fuel, they also wanted to take out power lines and power plants, but a lot depended on the timing. The strategy this time was to credit the Renamo opposition movement for the attack, thus increasing the perception that they were a real player in Mozambique's civil war. But there's a big difference between attacking a home of a politician and raiding a country's main oil supply. The Barer depot was protected by Fulimo troops 24 hours a day, and it had private security guards, as well as a large trench system with a 37-millimeter anti-aircraft battery less than a kilometer away on rising ground. And just to add more complexity, there was an informal settlement or squatter camp, only a few hundred metres away from the depot's security wall. The Redisions decided to fly Canberra over the depot at night and at high level before the attack just to check on the lighting. The images show that most lights pointed inwards, as shown on the storage tanks. That meant the saboteurs could approach the art of fence in darkness. S.A.S. Squadron leader Captain Bob McKenzie would lead the raid and was also nominated as overall mission commander. He checked the aerial photographs for priority targets, then asked for help from oil depot management in Salisbury to identify which container was the best target. He couldn't obviously show them the various pictures, there were civilians and would possibly talk. Instead McKenzie asked for a tour of the Salisbury oil depot. There was a very good reason for someone from the military to arrive and ask questions. You see the sauce we oiled depot had been blown up by sand and sand. attackers using RPG7s and tracer rounds just a few weeks before in December 1978. McKenzie needed to know which tanks held oil, petrol or tar, and which would explode or gnith the easiest. Once he'd been given a guided tour, he looked at his Canberra photographs and figured out which Berra containers should be hit. The S.A.S copied the Zunna technique, the stand-off idea was best, because they'd be attacking in darkness. At least that was the plan. By the way, the ANC's armed ring, M.K., used the same technique a year later in 1980, when they blew up eight fuel storage containers at Sasselberg, tipped for tat, you know. In Berra, the Reckys wanted to hit secondary targets with incendiary and explosive devices they packed in suitcases. This would damage the Mozambique economy hard, they thought. The Reckys and the S.A.S teams arrived in Derbyn on the 20th of March, where the strike crop Jim Fushie waited under Commander Johan Lertief. The Seaborn operation was going to exceed all expectations, as you'll hear next episode. Please rate the podcast on iTunes, it helps escalate the visibility of the story. And if you have any comments, head over to my website abwarpodcast.com, that's abwarpodcast.com. There's a link to send emails if you want to chat, or you can direct message me on Twitter. And that's it, that's it for today's live and until next, goodbye.