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South Africans botch military intervention in Lesotho

At 6h30 South African Time on Tuesday, 22 September 1998, 600 troops backed by AFV's and APC's crossed the border into Lesotho in an armed intervention designed to quell the unrest in Maseru and the purported mutiny of junior officers in the Lesotho army.

They achieved the exact opposite. Moving in against fierce resistance, with poor information from their intelligence apparatus, they failed to secure their objectives timeously, and stood by while the Basotho basically looted and burnt down their own capital. The major causes of this failure were due to a lack of intelligence as to the situation on the ground, and the fact that they were understrength militarily for an operation of this nature.

I suspect that most of the South African casualties occurred in the first few hours as the South Africans waltzed in like some sort of colonial expedition, expecting the natives to see our "maxim guns" and run away. Wars don't happen like that. Something the South African general staff only realised to its dismay when it was too late. Not only was order not restored, but the South African army and the Botswana army stood by and watched Maseru go up in flames. I think it would be accurate to say that they failed to achieve all their objectives in this "splendid little war".

The intervention was authorised by the SADC apparently in line with some agreement with Lesotho in 1994, that the SADC could intervene to preserve the ruling regime, should it come under threat. Elections had been held in May 1998 and the ruling party had scored 79 out of the 80 seats. This caused an uproar with accusations from the opposition supported by the junior officers of the army, that the election had been rigged. A commission of enquiry was held with Judge Pius Langa as its head into these allegations. Langa is a South African judge. The report was ambiguous. On one hand it stated that there had been fraud. On the other hand it did not find that the election had been rigged.

After the report appeared, the opposition engaged in steady "unrest" against the government. Junior officers forced 15 of their seniors to resign. These senior officers fled to South Africa. Mandela and Mbeki were overseas, when Buthelezi, the Minister for Home Affairs, and head of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), who was the acting President of South Africa, consulted them about an SADC intervention in Lesotho. They agreed to this, and on Tuesday morning the troop carriers rolled.

As things stand now, it appears that sporadic fighting continues between SADC and members of the Lesotho army. The South African intervention is enormously unpopular with the Basotho who regard it as an invasion by their big brother next door. South African journalists have been shot at and harassed, and if you are a South African, Lesotho is not the safest place to be at the moment.

The central business district (CBD) of Maseru has basically been cleaned out by looters and burnt to the ground. The equivalent of half of Lesotho's economy has been wiped out in one week, while the SADC troops stood by and watched. A considerable portion of those businesses destroyed were South African. Reuters reports that: "Lesotho does not have its own major retailers. South African companies are responsible for virtually all fresh food and produce, furniture and clothing sold in the country."

It is extremely doubtful whether the insurance companies will pay out for the damage. They will use the "war, riot, and insurrection" exclusion clause to escape liability. All of this means that South Africans will not be returning to Lesotho anytime soon. With half their economy gone, the Basotho will cross the border looking for work. Unemployed South Africans will not be too happy with this.

Joel's interpretation: The South African government has created an unbelievable mess. Not only have they failed to achieve their stated objectives to restore law and order, but they have failed to preserve South African interests by standing by while Maseru went up in flames, after a steady round of pillaging by its inhabitants. The inhabitants of Maseru have displayed a capacity for self-destructive behaviour which seems to be found throughout most of Africa rendering it the most wartorn and undeveloped continent in the world.

The naievity of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the Defence Ministry is truly astounding. They went in there assuming that they would be considered "peace-keepers" or that there would be very little resistance. In other words they planned this *military* operation as though the best outcome was a foregone conclusion. They did not realise that when one engages in military operations you hit the objectives with maximum force immediately to gain military dominance as quickly as possible. You assume the worst and hope for the best.

Therefore you do not attempt to effectively take over a country (which is what an armed intervention is) with a force of anything less than divisional strength. In addition you make sure that you gather the intelligence you need and plan the operation properly. You do not haphazardly gallop across the countryside, asking the locals for directions or how many entrances there are to the royal palace that you are about to assault !

The sheer stupidity and incompetence leaves me breatheless ! What also astounds me is that Mandela and Mbeki, and the foreign minister Nzo are overseas when South Africa engages in the first military operation of the ANC's tenure as government. This is a dereliction of duty and betrays an almost colonial attitude towards Lesotho. As though the Basotho are mere natives with spears, and bones through their noses who will cave into our little act of gunboat diplomacy !

If they had executed a proper military operation, the SANDF could have secured Maseru and the "strategic" hamlets within hours and prevented the destruction of Maseru. This would have enabled the SADC to gain space to sort Lesotho out. It would have been unpopular in Lesotho, but South African credibility would have remained intact, at least as a hegemonic power in the region. Instead we have a debacle.

regards

Joel

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