Short description
Warfare by Other Means is not an apologia - it is a history, much of it oral and straight from the mouths of those involved. It tells you everything you did not know about the last years of South Africa's total onslaught apartheid era.
Long description
Warfare by Other Means is not an apologia - it is a history, much of it oral and straight from the mouths of those involved. It tells you everything you did not know about the last years of South Africa's total onslaught apartheid era. It deals with a swathe of assassinations - the ruthless killings of friends and foes alike - and of destruction and mayhem committed both at home and abroad. How anthrax letters were mailed to enemies of the State. It tells how it joined the disastrous attempt by Colonel Mike Hoare's mercenaries to overthrow the Rene regime in the Seychelles because it was 'an anti-communist coup going begging' and how 'it was a shame to waste it'. How it secretly paid ransom to secure the release of captured mercenaries under sentences of death. How it foiled future coups attempts because, to the envy of the CIA and MI6 and the chagrin of the Soviets, it had amazingly managed to take over and run the Seychelles intelligence services through an SADF front company, Longreach. It expands on the SADF's co-operation with and the roles of surrogate forces like Inkatha in KwaZulu-Natal, the Witdoekies in the Cape Flats, the Ama-Afrika in the Eastern Cape, the Iliso Lomzi in Transkei, the African Democratic Movement in Ciskei and many more in combatting the 'total onslaught'.
It shows the passing parade of the National Party government's allies in the 'independent' homeland states and the money it shovelled in to support them. There were corrupt rulers like President Kaiser Matanzima and Prime Minister George Matanzima in Transkei and President Lennox Sebe in Ciskei. It explains how they milked their territories (and the South African taxpayer) for their personal benefits . It tells how they were deposed in military coups by General Bantu Holomisa and Brigadier Oupa Gqozo. It also explains, how having failed to turn Transkei into a bastion against the ANC, the SADF turned to Ciskei and introduced a Military Intelligence front company there that effectively controlled the government.