"The Buffalo Soldiers"

Pomfret, home to the former 32 Battalion in the North West Province is earmarked for demolition. It means that the veterans, widows and orphans who still live there will be relocated. They face an uncertain future.

Join Special Assignment as we witness the emotional reunion of veterans of this controversial unit and the man they call their father – the colourful storyteller and one of South Africa’s most decorated military men, Col. Jan Breytenbach.

On the eve of their dispersement Special Assignment invited Breytenbach to Pomfret to say goodbye to this elite unit that he had founded.

32 Battalion was forged in battle. In 1975 Col Breytenbach was sent to recruit Angolan fighters who could help the SADF crack down on guerrilla infiltration from Angola into South West Africa. He recruited soldiers from the FNLA – or the National Front for the Liberation of Angola. Angola was on the eve of independence from Portugal.

The FNLA was one of three Angolan liberation movements that had been fighting for over a decade for control of their fatherland. The MPLA had massive backing from the Soviet Union and Cuba. Unita got arms and funding from America and South Africa. The FNLA was slowly being driven out. They had no outside support. They fled south…and in the small town of M’pupa on the Angolan border with Namibia, they met Breytenbach who gave them material support and training and led the group in their first battles. They soon built up a formidable reputation. The SADF came to rely on them. It was a mutual dependence. The Angolan fighters and their families lived on the SADF’s Buffalo Base in the Caprivi strip of Northern Namibia.

When Namibia gained independence in 1989, the South African army had to withdraw. There was no question: 32 Batallion had to move too. They could never hope to return and live under the Angolan government that they had fought. But the SADF generals promised them they would be looked after.

So they were settled at Pomfret – an old asbestos mine, two hours drive north of Vryburg in what is today the North-West Province. The SADF had the mine rehabilitated and then built a base and thousands of houses. Today Pomfret is the largest settlement in the rural Molopo municipality, which consists of about 13,000 people.

32 Batallion had just settled in when they were called to duty to quell faction fights between the ANC and IFP on Johannesburg’s East Rand and in KwaZulu-Natal in the early ‘90s. Working the townships on the orders of their National Party bosses sounded the death knell for 32 Batallion. They were seen to be part what became known as Apartheid’s destabilising Third Force. Not surprisingly the incoming ANC government wanted the discredited, hated unit disbanded. After all the promises that the Defence Force would look after them, the disbandment came as a massive betrayal

For the veterans, the betrayal did not stop there. Soon after 32 Batallion was disbanded, the defence withdrew completely from Pomfret, leaving a community of ill-adjusted, isolated civilians to fend for themselves. For more than a decade, the veterans and their families have been relying on each other and social grants. Few are still strong enough to work. They do what they know – work in private security. Living conditions have been slowly eroding.

And then, last year, General Bobo Moerane, from the new SANDF came to announce that they would be removed. He said it was because of the lurking asbestos threat.

Pre-school teacher Nainda Meriame is adamant, “He said every month we’re coming to remove people…the municipality has a paper that you sign to indicate where you would like to go. Some people signed. I said I’m not a slave, I’m not signing. You can some and kill me here in Pomfret”.

The residents of Pomfret have been waiting for more than a year since the shock announcement. Then Special Assignment and Col. Breytenbach arrived. They told us they are convinced the reason for their threatened removal is personal. It’s retribution. Not just for the unpopular work they did in the townships in the early 1990s. But because Pomfret is seen as a cesspool of mercenary activity.

Working in security is the only work these men know how. It has taken them as mercenaries as far as Angola and Sierra Leone and as security guards to Iraq and Afhganistan. Two Pomfret residents were among the suspected mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe in connection with the coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. General Moerane didn’t exactly come out and say so…but the people of Pomfret believe it’s this that’s causing all their problems.

High school teacher Domingos Sebastiao is one of the young men of the community that spent some time in meetings with Gen. Moerance: “I think it has something to do with the security. Because he mentioned somewhere along the way when we were got a little bit angry we are security threat to the country.”

The people of Pomfret believe there’s real danger for them in moving into other communities. Northwest provincial MEC for Developmental Local Government and Housing, Phenye Vilakazi: “Today we had to negotiate with municipalities. It was not easy. There is a municipality that said to us they don’t come here if they come here the next night will wipe them out so the negotiations have not been easy.”

The community has appealed to the Human Rights Commission, the Red Cross and the South African Council of Churches for help. To stop the move. To find out the truth about their health. To find a way to stay together. So far, they’ve heard nothing. Local and Provincial government firmly deny any motive other than asbestos and says the pressure is on to get going. In the last month, the first six families have received letters of notification to get ready. But they still don’t know WHEN any of this will happen.

Don’t miss this story of epic battles and betrayals, filmed by Byron Taylor and directed by Anna-Maria Lombard, on SABC3’s Special Assignment, this coming Tuesday at 21h30.

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