THE decision made by Commonwealth Heads of State and Government to hold peace talks in London in December of 1979 between freedom fighters and the racist Government of Ian Smith made the Rhodies go mad.
Their voodoo intelligence told them a very frightening story:
– That ZIPRA had put together a conventional army of 20 000 which was going to invade Rhodesia conventional style before the talks took place in London that December.
– That, that ZIPRA conventional army was going to use the bridges at Kariba, Victoria Falls as well as military boats to enter Zimbabwe.
– On top of this, that ZIPRA army was also going to use MIG jets provided by the Russians to help in the invasion.
By the way, the conventional force was said to be equipped with the latest Russian tanks.
– Cubans and Libyans were also said to be part of the conventional force.
– The invasion was to last not more than 24 hours by which time Harare would have fallen.
Rhodies seriously believed this crazy story from their voodoo intelligence operatives.
They put in place ‘Operation Dice’ to counter that purported ZIPRA invasion and this took place in October 1979.
“COMOPS – Combined Operations ordered our immediate strategy should be directed towards limiting ZIPRAs ability to mount a conventional attack by stopping their armoured forces from getting to launch from points along the Kariba Lake and the Zambezi River and to prevent a build-up of ZIPRA troops and supplies which would be needed before any crossing into Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) took place,” Lt Colonel Ron Reid Daly, former commander of the Selous Scouts, tells us.
And the Rhodies decided that the first step to stop the expected ZIPRA invasion was to completely destroy Zambian infrastructure ZIPRA forces were expected to use as they made their way to Zimbabwe.
“The best way to stop the movement of the armoured columns southwards (to Zimbabwe) was to blow all the major bridges on the main trunk routes and thus bring all traffic to a grinding halt,” he says.
“The main road south from Lusaka to Chirundu and the main road to Livingstone which junctions of that were to be destroyed.”
Once there was agreement that the ZIPRA forces were to be stopped, the Rhodies then went on to send various of their killer groups into Zambia to do the actual destruction of the bridges, set up ambushes, road mining and generally cause trouble in the whole of Zambia.
“The Special Air Service (SAS) was personally handling the task of destroying the road bridges…they had already some weeks before destroyed the road and rail bridges along the Great North Road linking Zambia with Tanzania… In addition to the bridges, they were tasked to ambush roads inside Zambia.”
Not only the SAS were involved.
The ‘masikuziapo’ (Selous Scouts) were also roped in.
“A portion of the Selous Scouts was made available to the special air service to assist with the operation and were given two major roles to fulfil.
One, monitor all roads, routes or camps.
Two, supply a strike force capable of mounting ambushes etc.”
The above units were given air support in the form of, Hawker hunter jets. The killer forces were transported to Zambia by Bell 205 helicopters as well as Dakota transport planes.
And with this, the marauding Rhodies were off to Zambia and disaster soon followed.
“The Special Air Service, in a series of moves, destroyed the nine bridges and the whole of Zambia ground virtually to a halt as the Great East, the Chirundu and Livingstone roads were effectively cut in a number of places.
Demolition teams were sent out. Once an area had been secured the demolition team positioned their explosive charges on the piers, the abutments and on the bridge spans themselves.
Then the detonation would take place and the teams would get back in the helicopters and leave.
They finally got the technique down to a fine art, and from the moment of landing to the time of blasting it took them no more than 15 minutes.
Where old causeways still existed, they too were destroyed if at all possible or else heavily mined.”
It was not only the roads and bridges that were targeted.
The Rhodies went on the rampage, ambushing and killing innocent people in cold blood.
“Road blocks (illegal ones set up by Rhodies on Zambian roads) were quickly set up. One day, ordinary men travelling towards Lusaka on the Great East Road were shot dead. Reconnaissance teams were sent into Zambia to operate widely to gather intelligence not only on the type and volume of traffic using the various routes but also to monitor various potential build-up areas to ensure we stayed ahead.”
The above reconnaissance teams went further and engaged in other nefarious activities including rape and robberies.
One team of Selous Scouts ambushed an ordinary vehicle and signalled it to stop, which it did.
Then in cold blood, two people who were in the vehicle and were falsely accused of wanting to run away were shot dead. The Selous Scouts did not just shoot at civilian vehicles willy-nilly, they went on to attack Zambian military trucks under the guise that they were ZIPRA so that the Zambian army would attack ZIPRA.
But, the two brotherly forces did not fight each other having seen the Rhodesian trick.
However, the Rhodies used the pretext of Selous Scouts being in the area to bomb the Zambian military trucks saying the Selous Scouts were ZIPRA.
“One day, Wally – (a Selous Scout) radioed for air support and was told the Hawker Hunters were on their way.
A section of Hawker Hunters swooped down, their rocket trails leading away towards the ground.
They achieved a highly satisfactory kill.”
Yes the Zambians were bombed under the pretext that they were ZIPRA by the Rhodies.
‘Operation Dice’ was simply meant to cause mayhem, havoc and fear in Zambia so that the talks in London would be easy for the Rhodies.
Innocent civilians were killed in cold blood and Zambian infrastructure was destroyed all over the country.
The Rhodies themselves boast the cowardly acts carried out under ‘Operation Dice’ were very many as they say: “The complete record of these (cowardly) operations would fill a book of its own.”
However, ‘Operation Dice’ was one of most shameful operations carried out by Rhodies during the liberation struggle.