SPRINGBOK CYBER NEWSLETTER
November 2000 editionIt is rare for an octogenarian to be able to put the fear of God into a tyrant, but that Ian Douglas Smith certainly seems to have done to "comrade" Mugabe.
Ebagum's latest rantings that all those who fought for Western civilisation during the Rhodesian Bush War will be charged with "genocide", and that Ian Smith in particular will be arrested on these grounds when he returns to zimbabwe were not only the words of a megalomaniac, but also show clearly what a total illusion all the talk of "reconciliation" is as far as African tyrants are concerned (South Africans please note!).
IDS has laughed off all these lunatic ravings, and indeed has dared Mugabe to arrest him and put him on trial, saying that he would welcome the opportunity of having his say in court. He has good reason to be unafraid of Ebagum's threats, as it is clearly a sign of just how unhinged the dictator has become as his own imminent removal from power becomes ever more certain. There is a maxim that a cornered rat is the wildest rat, and this certainly seems to be the case here.
In the past we have tended to be critical of Ian Smith - certainly we believe that he surrendered to the pressure of John Vorster and Henry Kissinger far too early and far too easily in 1978/79 - but this does not diminish our overall great admiration for the man. By standing up to the tinpot dictator Mugabe at the age of 81 he could well act as a catalyst to hasten his downfall and to usher in a far less oppressive regime. It may not herald the rebirth of Rhodesia, but that area of land between the Limpopo and the Zambezi may well be taking a giant step along the road back to civilised rule.
IDS's brave defiance in his 80's may well go down in history as an even greater achievement than his inspirational leadership during the glorious days of UDI.
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SPRINGBOK CLUB'S OCTOBER MEETING
The Springbok Club's October meeting proved a good success, with a high-quality turnout and a powerful and thrilling keynote speech. Our guest speaker was Mr. Anthony LoBaido, the roving international investigative reporter of the Internet-based news service WorldNetDaily. In his speech he recounted his experiences in South Africa and Angola, and particularly emphasised his admiration for Willem Ratte (who he had met and interviewed), who he stated was regarded as the greatest soldier that South Africa had ever produced. He also reminded us that since the end of WWII the West had tended to betray all their allies - not only the Rhodesians and White South Africans, but also the Karen people of Burma, the Hmong of Laos, UNITA and the Christians of southern Sudan.
[Anthony LoBaido is currently writing a story about what he terms the "Rhodesian remnant" (i.e. the Rhodesian expatriate community around the world), and whilst in London not only interviewed Mr. Geoff Cooke of the Rhodesians Worldwide movement, but was also granted a written interview with Ian Smith himself. As soon as this story appears on the pages of WorldNetDaily we will inform everybody of its address.]
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SPRINGBOK CLUB UDI DAY DINNER
We are happy to be able to confirm that our Guest of Honour for our forthcoming UDI Day Dinner will be Brig. Pat Lawless. Pat Lawless was born in 1955 and raised in Nyasaland and Rhodesia, and educated at St.Stephen's College near Bulawayo. He was commissioned into the 1st Battalion Rhodesian African Rifles in 1975 and served on operations with the Battalion as a rifle platoon commander, mortar platoon commander and operations officer. He qualified as a paratrooper in 1977, and was awarded the Silver Cross of Rhodesia in 1980. He joined the British Army in 1981, training as an army pilot. He was posted to Germany, and completed a number of tours of duty to Northern Ireland. Promoted Lieut.Col. in 1992, Pat Lawless completed a 6-month tour in Angola working for the FCO. On his return he assumed command of 9 Regiment Army Air Corps in North Yorkshire, then part of 24 Airmobile Brigade. His tour of command ended in 1994 when he was posted to the Army Staff College as a member of the Directing Staff and Warfare Team Leader. He joined the HQ of the ACR Rapid Reaction Corps in Sarajevo in 1996 on promotion to Colonel, and conducted the Functional Review of HQ ARRC in the early half of 1997, before moving to HQ Adjutant General to take up the appointment of Col. AG O&D in December 1997. He attended the Higher Command and Staff Course in January 1999, taking up his next appointment as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the new Joint Helicopter Command on promotion to the rank of Brigadier. Having resigned from the Army in 2000, Pat Lawless is to be the new Chief Executive of a UK based Defence Company, THOMRO Defence Electronics Ltd., which opens for business on 15 November 2000. He is married to Cherril and has 3 sons. He is a qualified rugby referee, and is President of the Army Air Corps Rugby club.
The dinner, which will entail a 3-course meal, will take place on Saturday 11th November 2000 at the Old Whitgiftians Clubhouse in Croham Manor Road, South Croydon. There are still a few tickets left priced £16.50 per head, and payments should be sent to Springbok Club treasurer Bill Yates (who is organising the event) at P.O.Box 144, London SW2 3LG, and made payable simply to "A. Yates". Tickets are however limited, and will be allocated strictly on a "first come first served" basis, so if you are interested in attending then please forward your payment as soon as possible. (If you would like acknowledgement that your place has been booked safely then please let us know your telephone number and the best time when you would like to be 'phoned.)
We are also pleased to be able to announce that the first prize in the raffle to be held that evening will be a rugby ball signed by both the Springbok and All Black players from Wynand Claasens's Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1981. This item is very valuable, and we believe therefore that many people who may not able to attend the dinner might also like to be included in the draw. Tickets will be priced £1.00 each (or £5.00 per strip), so if you would like to purchase any please send your payment to the same address as soon as possible - but also please inform us by e-mail of your request.
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JOHANNESBURG UDI DAY PARTY
There will also be a "Rhodesia is Super" Dinner/Dance taking place on that same day at the JHB Social Club in Bertsham, Johannesburg, and the Guest of Honour will be John Edmond - freshly returned from his concert tour of Australia. If you would like to obtain more details about this event then please write to Rodger Graeme (who is organising the event) at jhbsocialclub@yahoo.com
A "contact board" will be on display at this function, where all Rhodies can post details in order to try to re-make contact with former friends and colleagues. If you would like to have any such message displayed then again please contact Rodger at the same address.
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PATRIOTIC PRESS PRODUCTS
We are pleased to confirm that we still have a few full-sized real South African flags left in stock. They are being sold for £12.00 each, though the price is only £10.00 if collected personally at future Springbok Club events.
During that vital period of South African history during the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990 we managed to publish an in-depth analysis of the developing situation in the country called "Patriotic Press's South African Newsletter". Although we had to cease publication when we were forced to relocate operations to the UK, we have recently been able to re-issue the eight editions which we originally produced. Although this publication is of course no longer of any current relevance, it is even so still of great historical interest, and can be purchased for £20.00 (£10.00 for Full Members of the Springbok Club) for a complete set of all eight issues.
All payments should be made to "Patriotic Press" (in Sterling) and sent to : BCM SAPAT, London WC1N 3XX, U.K..
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BRANCH NEWS
The Hampshire Branch of the Springbok Club held a happy and successful get-together last month, and they aim to hold a pre-Christmas "pub evening" in Southampton in early December. If you're interested in participating then please contact us at the usual address.
The Kent Branch is also planning a get-together in December, and full details will be given in next month's SCN.
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DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT MARCH & RALLY
The Democracy Movement's anti-Nice Treaty protest march proved a great success, with over 10,000 taking part. Several Springbok Club members attended this march and the subsequent rally in Trafalgar Square, and reported on the great sense of optimism which prevailed. Amongst he speakers at Trafalgar Square were John Redwood MP, Austin Mitchell MP and Robin Page. With the EU seeming increasingly to be heading for collapse, the prospects for renewed interest in our traditional global spheres of influence therefore seems to be on the ascendancy.
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BONFIRE
Several Springbok Club supporters will be attending the Lewes Bonfire celebrations on Saturday 4th November this year, and as usual will basically be following the Cliffe B.S.. We will be rendezvousing at "The Volunteer" in Eastgate Street, Lewes, between 16.00 hrs and 18.00 hrs, and will be congregating at Cliffe Corner between 20.00 hrs and 20.45 hrs. A full report will be carried in next month's SCN.
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LONDON SWINTON CIRCLE
The London Swinton Circle will be holding a very interesting meeting at the House of Commons (Committee Room 16) on Tuesday 14th November 2000, to be addressed by Teresa Gorman, the Euro-sceptic Conservative MP for Billericay, commencing at 19.00 hrs.
The Swinton Circle have also recently produced a most informative brochure based upon a speech given by Philip Benwell MBE, the Chairman of the Australian Monarchy League. Copies can be obtained from: Allan Robertson, 22 Albury Street, Deptford, London SE8 3PS, UK. We would suggest that you include £2.00 in order to cover costs.
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NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
Our friends at the Falklands Society have recently been good enough to provide us with a new "customised" e-mail address. Although our existing address will still be valid for the foreseeable future, you might still like to start using this new address, which is: springbok@falklands.org
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"FREEBIES" WEB-SITE
This web-site designed by ex-Rhodesian John Allman, now living in York, has recently been upgraded.
This new "green" and environmentally friendly web-site is to help people re-cycle items which they no longer use or want. The idea is that others in your community will visit the site, see useful items, and claim them. No money changes hands, all transactions are free, although you have to make your own arrangements to collect the items you want. If you see something you want, just claim it. No mailings will be used for commercial purposes.
To find out more visit this "freebies" web-site at :-
http://www.freebiesrus.co.uk
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BRITISH EMPIRE & COMMONWEALTH MUSEUM
Several Springbok Club supporters are closely involved with the establishment of the new Southern African section of the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol, and this will be officially opened by Viscount Cranbourne on Saturday 9th December 2000. Full details will be given in the next edition of the SCN, but supporters might also be interested to know that the Springbok Club is planning an official visit to the Museum in February of next year.
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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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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.27 : Mr. WARWICK DAVIES-WEBB
Warwick Davies-Webb earned a BA and an MA from Wits University in the early and mid 1980s. He was involved in patriotic organisations on campus and edited a political journal. His family owned a farm in the Eastern Transvaal near Nelspruit.
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RECOMMENDED WEB-SITE
In previous years we have recommended the home page of Conrad Bladey's excellent Bonfire web-site at this time of year. This year we thought that we would draw everybody's attention to some of the special pages which he has constructed for the individual Lewes bonfire societies, specifically that for the Cliffe B.S.
It can be accessed at:-
http://members.tripod.com/~Fawkes/cliffe.htm
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MORE ON MANDELA
The two extensive reports which we carried last month detailing the history of the convicted terrorist criminal Nelson Mandela produced great interest and a number of interesting reactions. One supporter still based in South Africa wrote as follows:-
"I thought it might interest your readers to know that Mandela was so impressed with the house that he stayed in at Pollsmoor Prison that he has used the plans for his new home in the Transkei."
More surprisingly, however, we received a mysterious e-mail from someone who glories in the name of Derrick Feridok who told us that he was sent a copy of the SCN by a nameless "friend", but who then went on to castigate us by saying "Your views on the ex-president [sic] Mandela border on slander". We wrote back to this character asking him who his nameless "friend" was, and challenging him to justify that anything which we reproduced was "slander". Significantly he has been unwilling to - on incapable of - replying to this challenge. Does anyone know anything about this Feridok therefore, or where he comes from? It would appear that maybe state brainwashing is now at a very advanced stage in the "new" South Africa.
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See you again next month!
