Well something new this week, we have found ourselves enveloped in a cloud of Saharan dust for most of the week. They call it Saharan dust but with rain, it becomes sticky red Saharan mud. Lots of cleaning for us when it finally leaves. The phenomenon occurs every few years, more in the south than the north for obvious reasons.
Every now and again we all have a culinary explosion. I’m not talking about a verbal diatribe with one’s wife over some mundane issue in the kitchen. I’m talking about a messy explosion of a physical nature. I have two that often come to mind from my born-again bachelor days. The first instance was one evening when I was preparing to entertain some neighbours, I decided to prepare that old Rhodesian favourite banoffee pie. This requires turning condensed milk into caramel by simmering a can of condensed milk slowly in a pot of water, making sure you do not let the water run dry. Being a man and easily distracted, I soon forgot the simmering pot on the stove and went off for a beer with one of my farm managers on the verandah to discuss farming issues. Much more important than supervising a pot on the stove! Ten minutes later there was an almighty explosion in the kitchen where I rushed to find that you can completely coat a large kitchen with 500 mls of canned condensed milk as opposed to 10 litres of paint. That included not just walls, but ceilings too. Thank goodness for domestic assistance in those days. The next instance was when I tried to cook a whole in-shell egg in the microwave. Luckily the microwave, which I decimated, could be disposed of. There was egg in places impossible for humans to reach.
“There is no such thing as accidents, only carelessness.” - My father, Archie MacSporran
On Sunday we decided despite my stomach ailment we should go out for lunch. Rozanne makes delicious homemade mint sauce which we take to a particular restaurant hoping their lamb would be on the menu. Sure enough, it was. As I lifted the glass jar of mint sauce, it slipped from my hand and despite being glass bounced to quite a height without breaking. In that bounce, the sauce managed to spray much of our side of the restaurant including diners at the adjacent tables. Those tables with no customers had to be cleared as they were coated in mint sauce as well. When the waitress came with a mop she had to bring another for the ceiling, to my dismay the damn stuff was dripping from above too! I wanted to sink into the floor despite the kind platitudes of the victims. Rozanne’s answer to the embarrassing incident was to disintegrate into the giggles adding more to my dismay and embarrassment. Needless to say, I suffered that evening as my stomach reacted to the richer than usual food, also in an unfortunate explosive manner.
My stomach condition has not improved. Of course, every ailment makes you reflect on previous sicknesses. Many years ago on flying to Tanzania with Peter Shepperd in his light aircraft, unbeknown to me at the time, I had contracted dysentery on my travels. If you need a wee (pee), fine, a plastic bottle will suffice, not so for diarrhoea. It was a case of gritted teeth and a dash into the bush every landing on the way there. Worse still four days later on the return trip, I experienced the same ordeal. Luckily at that time, I was able to get cured reasonably quickly. This time after a few months, still no diagnosis for me as yet, let alone a remedy. I have always had a weight problem coupled with a gluttonous appetite not to mention a huge thirst for beer. This ailment has remedied me of these once looked upon self-indulgences. Oh, how I would like my old self back!
As I feared in desperation Putin is bringing some foreign killers into the conflict in Ukraine. Rhodesia also had foreign soldiers during the Bush War, all there not for the money, rather in what they saw as the crusade against communism. In the odd case, they were there for the excitement. It certainly was not for the pay as the Rhodesian army wages were extremely low even with foreigners being paid in a local currency not accepted in the rest of the world. Yes, some souls believe war is exciting, yearning for that adrenaline rush.
The one exception was when a French unit of company strength consisting of a mixture of former French paratroopers, ex-Foreign Legions and adventurers were hired. From the beginning, they had trouble fitting in with the Rhodesian forces, they certainly did not have the required discipline. It was said they came under the impression they would be highly paid mercenaries and therefore were very disappointed in being paid Rhodesian dollars. Many fled the country after their first bush trip while others lasted two bush stints following which they were forcefully disbanded under guard and deported. I remember that day well as I personally witnessed this event at Bindura JOC being on one of my many call-ups at the time.
They had been pretty ineffectual, the locals hated them as they were rather “rough” on them. Murder and rape was mentioned coupled with the fact that in two firefight incidents (contacts) they killed more of their own men than the enemy. This is known as ‘friendly fire’ incidents in army jargon.
What I am suggesting is that any foreign troops introduced to Ukraine will likely be undisciplined hardened killers with little concern of who gets hurt, friend or foe. They will be hard to control, prone to committing atrocities, looting and likely to do their employers more harm than good in the long term. We will see.
Also, unlike western armies, there is a very weak command structure in the Russian army. In the Rhodesian war, stick leaders made the on-ground decisions, these people only commanded four men sticks. These men could be from captain, rare, down to lance corporal. Any of these would and could be in direct contact with the overall field commander at any time, day or night. They could make instant strategic decisions as combat unfolded.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the Russian offensive is filled with flaws including poor logistics, overextended and weak supply lines, bad formations, untrained soldiers and a very poor command chain led by a more and more isolated leader day by day who either sees his generals killed or fired.
“We have known for decades that the Soviet system, now the Russian system, has always lacked one of the key strengths of US and Western militaries, which is a strong, professional noncommissioned officer corps.” - General Petraeus retired US army
Meanwhile, sanctions will not stop the fighting in the short term nor has the west the willpower or courage to challenge Putin’s bluff to impose a no-fly zone to protect Ukraine's civilian population from the inevitable bombing which will be used on the cities to enforce their capitulation. Street fighting would be the worse option for the Russians.
Gwebi Friends
With the Chards now ensconced at Gwebi, I started to attend parties and college dances there. At one such party, having that same day received both a tetanus and bilharzia injection before my first territorial call-up post-national service, I ignored the rule of no drinking for twenty-four hours. The bilharzia treatment had many side effects. The outcome; I felt very ill and on retreating to the toilet passed out with my body against the door. Unbeknownst to me, it caused great panic with someone having to climb through the small bathroom window to move me. I slept through all the excitement, however, the next day, I can safely say I suffered the worst hangover of my life. Nowadays pills are administered for bilharzia treatment which clearly state do not partake in alcohol within 24 hours of administering. Nearly all of us would contract bilharzia, at least once causing all sorts of health problems including liver damage. There was one strain in the Lower Mazowe River that attacked the brain and was more often than not fatal.
Anyway, I slowly got to know many of the students at Gwebi College* and started to socialise with them. In fact, a couple of them leased a cottage down the road from me and in the following year, they would come and share a cup of soup, toast and beer with me on a Sunday night. One of them was Tony Middleton who many will know from Choma in Zambia. I was also to meet my future brother in law Mike Belinsky who became a friend too, which in the following year would lead to my meeting of his sister Diane, my future wife.
I think it was about September that year when I went on my first territorial call-up. At that time being OPA (Outside Postal Area) we did not have to attend weekly parades at the drill halls in the cities, rather only the six-week call-ups. The OPA companies consisted of rural dwellers and people from small towns in Rhodesia. They included farmers, farm managers, miners, government workers and rural council employees amongst others. Call-ups were now restricted to six to seven-week stints with three or four days retraining before deployment. This training, in the beginning, was on a farm in the Mazowe Valley just outside Salisbury. When I went to my call-up for the first time, I automatically dropped a rank to corporal which only lasted about two weeks before my new OC Rowly Davies made me sergeant again. Those four days of training also allowed us to form our platoons and become familiar with our fellow soldiers, many older than National Servicemen. The conduct of the war was changing.
In that year, 1974 the tactics of the Rhodesian Army in the fight against the insurgents changed with the introduction of ‘Fireforce’. A unique and highly successful means to combat an enemy in the bush.
“The Fireforce counter-insurgency missions were designed to trap and eliminate Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army insurgents before they could flee.
Fireforce reacted to enemy ambushes, farm attacks, or observation post (OP) sightings, and could also be called in by trackers or patrols who had made contact with the enemy and then called for reinforcements. Fireforce was first deployed in January 1974 and saw its first action a month later on 24 February 1974.
Fireforce was an operational assault or response usually composed of the first wave of 32 soldiers carried to the scene by three helicopters (G-Cars) and one Dakota (Paradak), with a command/gunship helicopter (K-Car) and a light attack aircraft in support (Lynx). One of the advantages of the Fireforce was its flexibility, as all that was needed was a reasonable airstrip.” - Wikipedia
Our role changed from aimless patrols with little success into actively ambushing, clandestine observation posts and engaging the enemy then calling in Fireforce if the numbers demanded. Fireforce originally consisted of regulars troops but later as pressure on numbers increased they included many national servicemen and territorials. Every regular soldier in the Rhodesian Army qualified as a paratrooper. Do not get me wrong, we still patrolled but normally now on specific missions with regard to reported sightings, information or follow-ups after an incident, often against the local civilians. Our officers were also territorial, some of them really good soldiers, some of them better left at home in the pub. Soldiers cannot be choosers I am afraid, on call-up the first question we would ask is who our OC was. He would make or break the success of our deployment. For the first two years of call-ups, my OC was to remain Rowly Davies who was also the General Manager of the Crop Seeds Co-op. I got miffed at one point on the number of call ups I was doing to learn later it was at his request. He had taken a liking to me because I could often find trouble.
Han and I, Our Travels Continued
Han and I learned a lot about the operation of NGOs and other soft loan providers on that first trip to the proposed Beira Corridor in 2010. Banks, for good reason, were reluctant to lend to small agricultural businesses. There was a general culture of not paying back loans. Aid agencies and NGOs gave out cash rather than loans, as loans involved too much administration combined with responsibility, loans remain the money of the lender leading back to some Government agency, charity or ‘do-good’ sponsor who want to make you accountable. Imagine taking on that responsibility? To much work for NGOs. This enshrined the culture of not paying back loans, especially as in the past they were not enforced.
Of course, the NGOs and Government departments provided copious lists of who they thought should benefit from the proposed fund. It would appear they did not really understand, or wish to understand, that our money, be it cheap and soft, would need to be repaid. Many of the projects promoted by them were soon to be discovered in the Government case; they were found to be relations, cousins or business acquaintances or partners of senior Government officials or politicos in each respective area we visited. With the NGOs, it was often what we would call their babies. That is companies or individuals who had cultivated the NGOs into thinking they were ‘do gooders’ with their illusionary patter portraying their characters beyond reproach while working for the betterment of not only themselves but the area. Many when looked at closely would fail without grants or handouts motivated purely by self-interest and avarice. Certainly, failure would be embarrassing to the sponsors, so support continued often even after their charade was discovered. Some NGOs, few, did believe and were doing a good job, however rarely commercial and sustainable. When the program ended unless another NGO or donor came along, their sponsees, just like Government projects would collapse.
Discovery became a big part of our scoping exercise and even with that many identified in the scoping exercise would fall away on closer inspection later on. Naturally some we missed completely to our dismay when we discovered the facts later on. Two banks that were operating in the area was Banco Oportunidade de Mocambique SARL and Banco Terra both with two gentlemen from the Netherlands at their coal face. I am afraid I cannot remember the name of the Banco Opportunity manager who was unfortunately killed in a road accident while the second is a good friend who also worked in Zambia, Wigle Vondeling. Each with different perspectives were a fount of information. In Wigle’s case rather than giving out loans, he spent much of his time on recovery with his advice saving us from some dubious characters we were to learn about later. Wigle now helps with funding agricultural projects in Africa working out of Zambia. A man well worth approaching for advice.
That brings me to the most important thing about investing in Africa. It is information. We all know this is important in any business anywhere in the world. In Africa, the truth is often hidden where many actually believe their own lies or at least imaginary achievements supported by so-called foreign ‘do gooders’ in their attempts to have credibility.
“The naivety of most, not all, do-gooders, has no limit in Africa, This naivety allows them to offer support in areas where they have neither cultural nor practical knowledge.” - Peter McSporran
*Gwebi Agricultural College was the premier agricultural college in Rhodesia in those days. The majority of students were farmers' sons and daughters.
Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.
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