Rooi Gevaar, 2022
plaster of paris, enamel, spray paint
“the SADF troops pertaining to Operation Savannah had many tactics to avoid leaving a trace. one of them was stripping all cans in ration packs of labels, instead painting and colour coding them.”
the relationship between memory, accountability and the spaces in which they embody have a large effect on how the public engages with the past, present and future. through the intervention of installing an edition of 216 casted sculptures, this piece reflects, informs of and protests Operation Savannah, the silence around it and its current consequences. by engaging five academic concepts: heterotopia and dystopia, historical accountability, conspiracy of silence and collective memory, this essay discusses the effect of the Apartheid governments silencing tactics to erase the atrocities committed regionally by the SADF to maintain domestic hegemony and occupation in Namibia. the installation creates a vehicle of memory and allows for it to be included in collective memory.
Operation Savannah was a secret exercise in Angola that materialized in battles between the SADF with UNITA and FAPLA(MPLA) with Cuban assisting forces. the impetus for such was, initially, to increase the strength of UNITA and FNLA, as well as impede the MPLA from proclaiming independence in Luanda, the capital, and consequently ruling the country. following the unsuccessful mission, the aim of the operation shifted to attempt to overthrow the government and instate Unita (who was receiving military support from the SADF) in power. this was motivated by intimidation felt by the Apartheid regime of Marxist MPLA assuming power. the possibility was perceived as a threat to the prevalence of South African occupation of Namibia (then South West Africa) and, on a greater scale, the prominence of the Apartheid regime.
Foulcault coined the term heterotopia to refer to spaces that carry utopic characteristics but have a physical location assigned to them. (Foucault, 1984)these exist within civilizations and often reflect and oppose them simultaneously. (Foucault, 1984)the Apartheid regime functioned as a heterotopia in such that it was an enhanced version of modern colonialism where white rule and segregation were at the foundation of society, as well as how the extremity of such laws were criticized by some colonialists in other colonized neighbouring countries while simultaneously venerated by some. an example of such was the opinion of Portugal that, in different periods expressed that Apartheid was morally wrong and could not last due to the population of colour greatly outnumbering the white population. (Correia & Verhoef, 2009) additionally, heteropia in South Africa intensified as surrounding countries gained independence. it was the last country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence, preceded by Namibia (1990). south African presence in Angola then was one of the ways in which the Apartheid regime demonstrated its willingness to reach extremes to fight to maintain its heterotopic state. the fear of communism as a threat to the colonialism in South Africa and SWA was clear. the MPLA, then Marxist in ideology, being the liberation movement with the most military and political strength within Angola meant it had the most chances to rule the country, bringing a rival ideology so close to home. P.W. Botha, then minister of defence, and SADF commanders expressed their perceived need to intervene in the outcome of independence in Angola. (Warwick, 2012)
such fight to remain heterotopic, as a result, created a real world dystopia in a foreign land, pushing people to migrate, families to be dismantled and large numbers of lives to be lost. dystopia, in the context of literature, has been described as an imaginary unpleasant place characterised by suffering. (Geetha, 2014) South African invasion in Angola dated back to the 1960s (Correia & Verhoef, 2009), before independence, and official relations with the country’s former coloniser, Portugal, date back to the 1870s with the use of Mozambican miners in Kimberley. (Correia & Verhoef, 2009) South Africa offered military support and gear to the Portuguese regime during the struggle for independence. their presence in the country remined consistent until 1990 as Namibia became independent and the end of apartheid regime was foreseeable. such happened after the battle of Cuito Cuanavale which instigated the independence of Namibia from South African claws.
the apartheid government went through great lengths to erase this phenomenon, as they initially had claimed that the main reason for invasion in Angola was to dismantle SWAPO bases (Correia & Verhoef, 2009) that had been established in the country, as this occurred as Namibia was in fight for Independence. Botha on an interview with the Washington post in 1976, during the course of the operation, stated that there was SADF presence in Angola only 50 miles above the border with Namibia. (Warwick, 2012) such claims were false and were made after the SADF had reached beyond 1000 Km from the borders and really close to Luanda, being stopped from reaching it by the destruction of the bridge of Keve river. despite faint portions of information on the battles have been made available to the general public through books, reports and documentaries, accountability has not been taken by commanding chiefs for atrocities ordered and propaganda mass-spread in order to justify it, as well as barbarities committed by SADF soldiers in the name of the regime and SADF respectively. historical accountability is the concept linking to accountability being taken in the present by institutions and organizations for violations committed in the past. (DIRKS, 2004) the erasure of events such as the ones that unfolded as a result of Operation Savannah served as a hindrance for such process to take place.
the closest to reparations for human rights violations pertaining to the apartheid regime was the Truth and Reconciliation commission. The TRC was denied access to documents linking to Operation Savannah and consequently there were no hearings linking to the operation. (Truth and Reconciliation commission, 1998) such was justified as there being a need for a separate commission for crimes commited outside of South Africa. (Truth and Reconciliation commission, 1998) investigation into atrocities by white South Africans during the course of the apartheid regime was also limited to a short survey into atrocities commited upon neighboring countries based on SADF own archives. (Truth and Reconciliation commission, 1998)
the SADF troops pertaining to Operation Savannah had many tactics to avoid leaving a trace. one of them was stripping all cans in ration packs of labels, instead painting and colour coding them. (Angola - The Battle of Ebo (SADF Operation Savannah 1975), 2018) such avoided that in case such were found, they could not be linked back to them through language on the label and information provided on it. for this reason, the intervention materializes through 216 tin can shaped sculptures casted in plaster from moulds. these were painted in red and green colours and stacked in 36 columns of six cans each. through the difference in colour between the green and red cans, Rooi Gevaar is spelt out horizontally. the expression Rooi gevaar, meaning red danger/peril in Afrikaans, was widely used to describe the fear as a result of anti-communist propaganda during the cold war. (LONGFORD, 2016) it was what was used as a justification for attacks towards the MPLA and such propaganda served to persuade young white south Africans to sign up for military service. (LONGFORD, 2016) the term was additionally used to describe the instilled fear towards the ANC and SWAPO and ultimately anything that posed threat to the survival of the apartheid regime. (LONGFORD, 2016)
such intervention would be installed outdoors. plaster being a fragile material and with no resistance to water, the installation would disintegrate over time through weather conditions. such alludes to the erasure and destruction of information pertaining to the operation by the regime, as well as the secrecy and strategies to not leave evidence of their violence behind. this event is often described as conspiracy of silence by scholars, in which there is an intentional “unawareness” by the majority about a certain event motivated by any form of interest. (Zerubavel, 2010) such culture of silence was also contributed to by SADF soldiers, but more recently have taken it to facebook to share their testimonies
the intervention needs to be made outside in the public, outside the Headquarters of the Department of Defence in Pretoria. the building is not only the location in which decisions were made within the SADF regarding the operation, but it is also currently the headquarters for what the SADF transitioned to be after democracy was established in South Africa. as collective memory highly relies on the archive, known as the vehicle of memory and widespread of events outside of those experiencing it first-hand, (Confino, 1997)the erasure of Operation Savannah removed the atrocities from the mainstream vehicles of memory in South Africa and Angola alike. such events never got to exist in the public memory of the people of both countries.
the nature of the intervention and its location would permeate into the collective memorandum and operate as a vehicle of memory on its own. it would not only bring awareness to passer-by, but would also function as a protest to the culture of conspiracy of silence still current pertaining to Operation Savannah.
through this intervention, the atrocities committed by the SADF and the Apartheid government within Angola as well as Namibia alike are revealed. this directly opposes the intention to conceal and implement a culture of silence by the Apartheid regime to absolve the perpetrators of war crimes, which impaired the justice and accountability deserved by victims of such atrocities. it furthermore exposes the extent to which the Apartheid regime was willing to push in order to preserve its heterotopic existence.
the idea of installing the piece in Pretoria hasn’t materialized, but remained in the idea and such became the work.
Raul Jorge Gourgel, October 2022
works cited
Foucault, M. (1984). Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias. Architecture /Mouvement/ Continuité.
Correia, P., & Verhoef, G. (2009). PORTUGAL AND SOUTH AFRICA: CLOSE ALLIES OR UNWILLING PARTNERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA DURING THE COLD WAR? Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies.
DIRKS, J. M. (2004). Accountability, History, and Archives: Conflicting Priorities or Synthesized Strands? Archivaria.
Geetha, M. (2014). Theory of Dystopia Unfolded - A Bird’s-eye View of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s “The Insect”. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science.
Zerubavel, E. (2010). The social sound of silence: Toward a sociology of denial. In C. University, Shadows of War A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University .
LONGFORD, S. (2016). THE SUPPRESSION OF COMMUNISM, THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH, AND THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF FEAR DURING APARTHEID. South Africa.
Truth and Reconciliation commission. (1998). TRC Final Report- CONVENTIONAL WARFARE- The war in Angola. Truth and Reconciliation commission/SABC.
Angola - The Battle of Ebo (SADF Operation Savannah 1975). (2018). Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5hLmJkMd0k
Warwick, R. (2012). Operation Savannah: A Measure of SADF Decline, Resourcefulness and Modernisati. Scientia Militaria.
Confino, A. (1997). Collective Memory and Cultural History: Problems of Method. The American Historical Review.