SPRINGBOK CYBER NEWSLETTER
July 2000 editionThe result of the recent Zimbabwe General Election was not unexpected. The vote was clearly rigged - not only through the much publicised intimidation, but also through the customary Black African practice of "stuffing" ballot boxes (clearly confirmed by the the alleged higher turnout than the earlier constitutional referendum, in spite of the stricter franchise).
Subsequent developments have been equally predictable, as farm thefts and invasions escalate. As we have said before, the most surprising thing about these attacks on the White population is that they didn't happen earlier. All Whites who stayed in the country after the fall of Rhodesia in 1979 have been living in a fool's paradise. The whole history of the African continent has shown that there is absolutely no place for Whites once the forces of darkness take control. Those naive liberals who believed Mugabe's promises of "reconciliation" in 1980 have in many cases signed their own death certificates by their stupidity.
But did the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) offer any realistic hope? Alas we think not. Even if their potential rule could have proved any better than Mugabe's tyranny (which in the long run we doubt) there was absolutely no chance of them ever being allowed to obtain power. Now all those (both Black and White) who openly supported the MDC will suffer the consequences. There is only one solution. All Whites must leave the country as soon as they can, and let it descend to a basket-case of Sierra Leone proportions as soon as possible. Then, and only then, will a new breed of White Men be able to return to clear up the mess, and to re-establish Rhodesia.
Meanwhile in South Africa Hansie Cronje has at last made a full admission that he accepted bribes from Indian bookmakers in order to throw test and one-day international matches. Significantly one of the matches involved was a one-day international between South Africa and Pakistan, which was played for the so-called "Mandela Trophy" - named, evidently, after the convicted terrorist criminal. Is it any wonder that when a trophy is named after someone who spent 27 years in jails for conspiring to commit the most heinous terrorist crimes that all morality goes out the window?
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PATRIOTIC FORUM MEETING
The SPRINGBOK CLUB joined forces with the LONDON SWINTON CIRCLE under the banner of the PATRIOTIC FORUM to provide a platform for a visiting American colleague, Bill Cooke, last month. Bill Cooke gave a most impressive speech in which he outlined how the English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution and the American War of Independence were all related and shared common values. He then went on to emphasis how the US and the UK, as well as many countries of the Commonwealth, still shared much in common today, and how we must therefore work more closely together to protect our mutual traditions, culture and interests.
Alas the turnout for this meeting was somewhat poorer than hoped and expected, but even so we were able to welcome a number of new friends, and were particularly pleased to be able to meet one long-standing supporter now based in New York. Another new supporter, Darren Green, took a number of photographs after this meeting, and has now placed them on his web-site. They can be viewed at :-
http://www.keepourpound.co.uk/photos
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JULY SPRINGBOK CLUB MEETING
The Springbok Club will be staging a special meeting to mark "Rhodes and Founders Day" this year, the details of which are as follows:-
Date : Thursday 13th July 2000
Time : 19.00 hrs for 19.30 hrs
Venue : The MORPETH ARMS, 58 Millbank, Westminster, London S.W.1.
(Close to the Tate Gallery and Vauxhall Bridge - nearest underground station: Pimlico)
Guest Speaker : Mr. Dennis Delderfield
Dennis Delderfield is the editor of the "City of London & Docklands Times", and was a Common Councilman of the City of London for 18 years. He is also the National Chairman of the "New Britain" movement, an organisation which, inter alia, seeks to strengthen links between the UK and those other Commonwealth countries populated by people of British stock, and which regularly stages events marking Canada Day, Australia Day and New Zealand Day. "New Britain" has also always been very supportive of their kith and kin who settled in and developed Southern Africa, so we therefore believe that Dennis Delderfield will be an ideal person to help us celebrate "Rhodes and Founders Day", and to remind us of the continuing importance of all our kith and kin standing united around the globe.
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SPRINGBOK CLUB NEWS
The Springbok Club will hold its 2000 AGM in August. You are reminded that only fully paid-up members will be entitled to attend this meeting, and that only Life, Honorary and Full Members will be able to vote and stand for office. Now will therefore be an ideal moment to join the Club if you are not already a member. Membership fees are £500.00 for Life Members, £20.00 per annum for Full Members (discounted to £12.00 for senior citizens, the unemployed and bona fide students), and £5.00 per annum for Associate Members. All payments should be made payable to "Patriotic Press" and sent to BCM SAPAT, London WC1N 3XX, UK.
Our Autumn Braai is planned for September, hopefully at a new venue in South-West London. Full details will be given next month.
We are also planning a special UDI Day dinner to be held in Croydon on Saturday 11th November, when we will be welcoming a special Rhodesian guest of honour as after-dinner speaker. Tickets will be limited, and will cover a 3-course meal plus wine. Exact prices will be finalised at our AGM, but if you are keen to attend please inform us as soon as possible, as we anticipate great interest in this event.
Nick Maine, our erstwhile Australasian co-ordinator, tells us that he will have to go to hospital shortly for a knee operation. We wish him a speedy recovery. We are also happy to report that somebody has expressed great interest in becoming our new Australasian co-ordinator, and we hope to formalise this appointment shortly.
Tony Waller, our Kent Branch organiser, is arranging another ad hoc branch get-together at Herne Bay in August. If you are interested in attending please let us know and we'll tell you the precise details. It is also hoped that our embryo Sussex Branch will be staging a similar ad hoc get-together before the end of the year.
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LONDON SWINTON CIRCLE MEETINGS
The London Swinton Circle staged a most interesting meeting last month when John Wilkinson MP (the Conservative member for Ruislip-Northwood) was their guest speaker. During question time the fact that Mr. Wilkinson had surprisingly questioned the deployment of British troops in Sierra Leone was raised. His answer, however, brought great encouragement to all friends of Rhodesia, for he stated that with the UK's current limited military resources it was important that we maximise our troop strength for a possible intervention in Zimbabwe. The fact that such a prominent Conservative back-bencher believes that British military action should be contemplated to restore law and order in that troubled land is a great source of encouragement for the future.
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REAL SOUTH AFRICAN FLAGS
We are pleased to confirm that we still have a small stock of full-sized real South African flags left. They are being sold for £12.00 each (payments should be made payable to "Patriotic Press" and sent to: BCM SAPAT, London WC1N 3XX, UK). The price will only be £10.00 if you intend to collect the flag personally at future Springbok Club events however, but we would ask overseas purchasers to add on an appropriate extra amount to cover overseas postage costs. Purchasers from North America should however contact Ferdi Fourie direct. E-mail him at: ffourie@cse.unl.edu to find precise details about supply.
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CON-MAN MEETS HIS DOOM
We have recently been informed that the notorious Brendan Joseph Willmer died at the end of 1999.
Willmer first came to our attention when, together with Stanley Deane, Bernie Foyle and David Overton, he helped found the "Save Rhodesia Campaign" in Cape Town in 1977. Within a few months, however, Willmer had managed to oust both Deane and Foyle, and started to run the SRC as his own personal feifdom. In the days that followed many more worries surfaced about the man, both concerning his handling of the Campaign and its finances. Other pro-Rhodesian organisations (such as the "South African-Rhodesian Association" of Mrs. M.V. Maxwell and Eve Brierley) were needlessly antagonised, a "sister" organisation, the "South Africa First Campaign", was launched which wasted valuable SRC resources, and the central SRC aim of advocating a "No" vote in the January 1979 Referendum was compromised by a number of Willmer's ambiguous and ruinous tactics. More serious, however, were a number of financial scandals, particularly the fleecing of thousands of Rand from a number of well-meaning supporters, including David Overton and Mrs. H.H. Goodhind of Somerset West. After the fall of Rhodesia Willmer disappeared from the scene, and shortly thereafter the financial scandals surrounding the SRC hit the Cape Town press, including the fact that nothing was know about the R100,000 reward fund which had been set up to bring the terrorist Nkomo to justice after the Air Rhodesia Viscount atrocities.
Surprisingly Willmer turned up in Durban a couple of years leter, and even more incredibly managed to establish himself on the political scene there - in spite of the well-known and well-documented scandals from his Cape Town past. He re-established the SAFC, and even managed to gain office in the infant Conservative Party of SA - until the mysterious case of the missing receipt book, whereby he was suspected of collecting far more money for the Party than he could account for! The CP then at last dropped him, and the SAFC also began to flounder, whereupon he decided to jump on the bandwagon of various local White-rights pressure groups by founding his own "Civic Action League". In this he was astonishingly successful, mainly due to the fact that he managed to gain the support of a number of quaint but wealthy little old ladies - which was particularly surprising in view of the fact that he was widely believed to be homosexual. As during his SRC days in Cape Town he waged a vendetta campaign against all other organisations which he regarded as "rivals", and "S.A.Patriot" in particular bore the brunt of his vindictiveness. He put pressure on our original printer, Ian Long's Lithotone company, to stop printing for us, and boasted that he would destroy us - but of course he failed. After three to four years of trouble-making the Durban press broke two dramatic stories about him, firstly that he had previously been a leading member of several far-right and neo-Nazi organisations in the UK (one at least of which had expelled him because of his homosexuality), and secondly that he was still a British citizen, having failed to take out South African nationality, and was only in the country on a temporary work permit! At last the authorities decided to act, and he was deported from the country.
A few years later, however, during the early years of P.W.Botha's sell-out, he was mysteriously allowed back into South Africa. He immediately tried to sue "Patriotic Press" for libel concerning a privately-distributed essay which we had produced entitled "The 'Save Rhodesia Campaign' - why it failed", but after we ourselves took legal action to defend ourselves nothing more was heard of this threatened action. Bizarrely he even tried to deny that he had been deported from the country - in spite of the fact that we were able to produce 10 press reports confirming his deportation! He also objected to the fact that we implied he was homosexual. He evidently died of AIDS.
[If anybody would like to receive a copy of the essay "The 'Save Rhodesia Campaign' - why it failed", which details more about how Willmer sabotaged the Campaign from within, please let us know, and we'll gladly supply a copy.]
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BOOK OFFER
COVOS BOOKS of South Africa are specialist publishers of Africana, and offer a range of most interesting and illuminating books which will appeal to many of our supporters. Amongst the titles they stock are:-
FIREFORCE - One man's war in the Rhodesian Light Infantry, by Chris Cocks. Hard cover with dust jacket, 228 x 155 mm., 368 pages, 120 black and white and colour photos, plus maps and sketches. Widely acclaimed as the classic account of counter-insurgency warfare in Africa. Includes the RLI roll of honour, citations and operational orders. Price R185.00.
HOW WE KEPT THE FLAG FLYING, by Donald MacDonald. Hard cover, 213 x 137 mm., 303 pages, with frontispiece and 7 illustrations and various diagrams. This enduring story of the Siege of Ladysmith is the first in a series of Anglo-Boer War reprints. Price R169.95.
PAMWE CHETE - The Legend of the Selous Scouts, by Lt.Col. Ron Reid-Daly. The revamped, rewritten version of the best-selling "Top Secret War". With new, previously unpublished material, including the roll of honour and full schedules of citations and wings. New photo sections. The definitive account of this exceptional unit's short but distinguished service in the field of counter-insurgency operations during the Rhodesian Bush War. Price R225.00.
COVOS BOOKS can be contacted at : P.O.Box 6996, Weltevredenpark, Transvaal, 1715, South Africa. Tel.: +2711-4769926, fax.: +2711-4769927, e-mail : covos@global.co.za
We are happy to be able to confirm that the Springbok Club can now supply copies of all these books, prices being £20.00 (Fireforce), £15.00 (How We Kept the Flag Flying) and £27.50 (Pamwe Chete). All payments should be made payable to "Patriotic Press", and sent to: BCM SAPAT, London WC1N 3XX, UK. (Please add 10% for p.& p.).
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CAN YOU HELP?
One of our supporters has recently contacted us to tell us the following harrowing story from South Africa :-
"Some time ago I began corresponding with a family that are in a witness protection programme, and who are going through absolute hell - their case has turned into a nightmare. Through corruption and bribery their police dockets were lost. They have been receiving life threats. They have lost their home, have no transport and no financial support etc..
"I feel desperately sorry for them and have contacted every newspaper, nationally and internationally, to reveal this sad state of affairs. In the meantime I really feel that I would like to assist them in any way possible.
"May I ask you for your support in getting some financial assistance, no matter how small (a R2 donation can feed one child). I ask you to talk to people around the office, and try to get support for them.
"Please let me know if you are able to assist. I will give you an account number where deposits can be made."
If you would like to help or to learn more about this sad case please contact Christine direct at :
christine@hyhold.co.za
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW ?
A regular feature in which we ask whether anyone knows the current whereabouts of a friend or colleague who has lost contact.
No.23 : Mrs. Jo Allen
Jo Allen was an independent conservative Durban councillor, who dumbfounded most pundits by winning the Morningside seat during the 1988 municipal elections, although it was then considered something of a "Prog" stronghold. She proved a very popular and hard-working councillor, and also became an active member of the Durban Parliament.
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RECOMMENDED WEB-SITE
William Sykes is an accomplished and professional artist who was born in Rhodesia in 1973. He specialises is aviation art, having been influenced by his father Bill Sykes who served in the Southern Rhodesia Air Force. He now has his own excellent web-site featuring many of his works (including pictures of Spitfires and Hawker Hunters), many of which he advertises for sale. His web-site can be accessed at :-
http://www.hanafin.co.zw/aviationart
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OBITUARY
It was of course with great sadness that we recently learnt of the death of John Aspinall. Although much has been said about John Aspinall's gambling exploits and active work for wildlife conservation - and even his empathy with the Zulu people - he was also a great patriot who sympathised with the Whites of South Africa. He stood as a candidate for the Referendum Party in the Folkestone and Hythe Constituency during the 1997 General Election, and was known to be in contact with the Conservative Party of South Africa. He was evidently greatly influenced by the works of Rider Haggard, an Imperial Patriot in the very best sense of the term.
John Aspinall's joie de vivre, love of wildlife and basic patriotism was probably more in keeping with the 19th or 21st centuries rather than the retrogressive 20th century when he basically lived. The examples and spirit of his life should still inspire us for the future however.
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See you again next month!
