DRAFT MESSAGE OF SUPPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY VETERANS ON THE OCCASION OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF THE BATTLE FOR SQUARE HILL:  16 SEPTEMBER 2012

Once ever so often, our history is re-told with battles of atrition. A year after the Russian Revoltuion of 1917, the same year of the birth of our first Commander in Chief in the Democratic dispensation, Nelson Mandela, a war cry sounded the emptiness of the Square Hill. What led to the sprawled dead enemy who laid folded as casualties with blistered limbs and scorched flesh lying amongst the blazing rocks of the Square Hill, offers us a vital opportunity for us to honour and memorialise them that fought and made the enemy run and hide in frenzied style. The battle of the Square Hill was a good and commendable outcome for the South African legion on the 20^th September 1918, which we remember today.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are referring to the 1^st Battalion Cape Corps (ICC) of Megiddo which was assigned in July 1918 to the 160^th Infantry Brigade of the 53^rd Welsh Division under General Edmund Allenby, (who later became the Filed Marshall Viscount) which was deployed across the Judean Hills that lay between the coastal Plain of Sharon and the hot Jordan River Valley. Their marching orders for the battle zone were to fight. In the words of Hart , “this operation wa one of the most quickly decisive and most completely decisive battles in all history”.  Within a few days the Turkish armies in Palestine had practically ceased to exist.

The unit entered the line on the night of August 19 and, as Difford recalled, "curiously enough" faced the 53rd Division of Turkish 20th Corps! "The country was very rough, stony, and hilly, even precipitous in places. Trenches could not be dug and the defenses consisted of stone and sandbag parapets and barbed wire.

“The battalion came under artillery fire from daylight on August 19 and would remain so for the next month. It was ineffectual so far as we were concerned, chiefly owing to strict attention to order to keep out of sight during daylight hours," Difford wrote. The arrival of the Spanish flu a few days later forced a change in dispositions. Here Ladies and Gentlemen, was the true face of war fought under a remorseless, unrelenting sun and disease in which men endued for days and nights, and willing to endure they were.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Orders for the September offensive came on the 4th of that month. On the 16th the brigade's battalions thinned out the front lines and concentrated in their attack positions. On the 17th final preparations were made for the attack, scheduled for the night of the 18th/19th. Allenby's main offensive was scheduled for the early hours of the 19th. The operations order of 160 Bde read as follows: "The brigade will make a night march and break through the enemy works on Wye Hill and advance along the watershed east of the Wady Samieh to Dhib and Square Hills with the object of entering the enemy's main line defenses at Valley View and about El Mugheir from the rear of those works." The 1/17th (Loyal) Indian Infantry was designated the advance guard. Their objective was to seize a bridgehead across the Wady Samieh for the troops following. The artillery would then bombard Sh-el-Azier and Valley View. The 1/17th would closely follow the bombardment and when it lifted would assault Wye Hill. They would then go into reserve and establish pickets.

The 1CC’s involvement had, however, been completed.  Their casualties in the period 18 to 20 September 1918 were 51 killed and 101 wounded.  From the time the 1CC was established on 25 October 1915 until it was demobilized on 8 September 1919, 117 officers and 6578 other ranks saw service.  17 officers were killed and 450 other ranks died in service.

The battle for Square Hill is commemorated as the units’ greatest achievement which is one that any troop may envy, where they covered themselves with glory, displaying bravery and determination that has never been surpassed.

Today we celebrate our fallen heroes and forefathers and lay wreaths to their honour, we should not forget the hardship that these exceptional men and martys had to endure, and during those hard times made the supreme sacrifice in the bloodiest war of all time, in the service of their country. They fought for kin and country. In their memory we must agree with Lord Tennyson who said and I qoute:

Something it is which thou hast lost

Some pleasure from thine early years

Break, thou deep vase of chilling tears

That grief hath shaken into frost

Such clouds of namesless trouble cross

All night below the darkest eyes

With morning wakes the will, and cries

Thou shall not be the fool of loss”

The sun beam will continue to rise in the East and set in the West, the heat of the day will give place to the cool breeze of that Middle Eastern Hill; the “Square Hill”, but the strides of the silent boots carried but the 1^st Battalion Cape Corps must blossom and glow eternally like crimson  above them here and everywhere, now and always.

Thank you.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE LATE LINDA MATYEBA

Comrade Linda Matyeba commonly known as “Mahe, was born on the 30^th November 1967 in Cape Town.

In the early eighties, as a young teenager, he broke his political tooth within the Black Consciousness student movement, AZASM and later, inspired by June 16 of 1976 generation, he decided to take up arms and left the country to undergo military training in Zimbabwe under the command of Cde. Nkutsoeu “Skaap” Motsau who is the current National Chairperson of AZANLA-MVA (AZAPO Military Wing).  He was part of the last group that came back in the country from Zimbabwe in 1993.

He was deployed in the Western Cape as a Provincial Commander in charge of internal training and recruitment of young cadres into the political fold of the broader Black Consciousness structures under the umbrella of AZAPO. He was part of VIP Security of AZANLA-MVA providing protection to the current President of AZAPO and his predecessors Comrades Mosibudi Mangena, Phandelani Nefolovhodwe and Itumeleng Jerry Mosala as well as senior members of the organization.

On the 2^nd February 2012 he succumbed to death The Booth Memorial Hospital in Cape Town after a long battle with ill health.  AZAPO has once again lost one of its most disciplined, dedicated and selfless fighters who have always put the total liberation of the Black masses at the forefront.

In his memory, AZAPO Western Cape and his family will hold a Memorial Service to Honor his immeasurable contribution to the liberation struggle of this country, AZANIA, on Thursday 9^th February 2012 at Luyolo Centre in Guguletu from 18h00 till 20h00.  The funeral will be on Sunday 12 February 2012.  Amongst those will be attending the funeral include our Honorable Member of Parliament AZAPO President Jake Dikobo, AZANLA-MVA National   Chairperson Nkutsoeu “Skaap” Motsau and others.  Cde “Mahe” will be laid to rest at Khayelitsha cemetery.

LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF COMRADE MAHE LONG LIVE!

AMANDLA!!!

Director General of the Department of Military Veterans announces the passing away of Mr. Edgar Motau who passed away on the15 October 2011

Director General of the Department of Military Veterans announces the passing away of Brigadier General Cyril Bafana Themba Dlamini (retired)

Director General Tsepe Motumi regrets to announce the passing on of Brigadier General (retired) Cyril Bafana Themba Dlamini (aka Edwin Ndlovu) who passed away on 17 September 2011.

General Dlamini was born in eThekwini on 10 October 1936

He was recruited into the African National Congress by his late father and former President of SACTU (South African Congress of Trade Unions) Stephen Dlamini in the early 1960s.His father, Stephen Dlamini was also a member of the ANC NEC and Central Committee member of the SACP. In 1967 he participated in the Wankie campaign which fought alongside the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) against the Rhodesian and South African forces.

Upon the retreat of the MK combatants, he was arrested alongside his other comrades in Botswana for his MK activities and was released after 21 months in jail. His release was on compassionate ground due to ill health and received medical care at the Princess Marina hospital in Botswana. He was later deployed to serve in various capacities in Mozambique and Swaziland, chiefly in the ordinance section of Umkhonto we Sizwe. In the spirit of loyalty and comradeship to one another, Cyril Dlamini and the late Chris Hani both entered a pact that whosoever passes on first, will look after the family of the other.

In 1994 Brig Gen Dlamini integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were he was conferred the rank of Brigadier General and was tasked with the responsibility of dealing with logistics.

Brig Gen Dlamini's funeral with full military honours will be held on Sunday 25 September 2011 at 20 Bublin Avenue, Morningside. Durban.

Director General Tsepe Motumi would like to send his sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

On Papi we must say;

His soul through mighty wings now flew,
To him who we trusted and laboured with,
Of upright discipline his statue was erected,
On earthly oceans and river flows,
Our cruel doubt now judged,
Our burning lust a fear unknown,
To shape our hope in democracy let us now rise,
Through the hissing depth of the ocean path - abide with him as he cruises through the mystery of the deep dance of
our ocean storms,
Let his soul now slide throw the mighty dust and breeze of our ocean so deep.
The grown man that he was.
Now standing still through the river streets,
His fine soul painted in white through the labyrinths of the dark ocean mountains,
Was so ill, there he can not fare worse.
Let the thoughts of praise cultivate our teenage democracy.
Whom when we lived with we refrained from revering.
Slide now Moloto, to gently take your salute…