Ops Drama

On 18 August 1982, 17 South African Special Forces operators crossed into Zimbabwe as part of the clandestine Op Drama. It was a mission to destabilize the ANC sympathetic government of Robert Mugabe

On 18 August 1982, 17 South African Special Forces operators crossed into Zimbabwe as part of the clandestine Op Drama. It was a mission to destabilize the ANC sympathetic government of Robert Mugabe and free political prisoners. The team was comprised entirely of former Rhodesian Army veterans, mostly black trackers led by 3 white NCOs.

They crossed the border late at night through the Kruger National Park and into Matabeleland by foot. On a tactical pause, the team was ambushed by a significantly larger force of Zimbabwean National Army soldiers. The team leader, Colour Sergeant Dave Berry was shot in the head and died shortly afterwards. The hulking ex-SAS hero had previously been awarded the Bronze Cross of Rhodesia for his combat gallantry, and proudly wore his SAS wings on his chest.

At some point during this firefight, Sergeant Robert Beech was separated from the team. Beech, affectionately called “Bobo” by his comrades was an ex-Rhodesian Light Infantry NCO with a Military Forces Commendation for his exploits in Rhodesia. It is unknown whether he was captured alive by the ZNA at this stage.

Sergeant John Andrew Wessels continued the fight before being incapacitated by a gunshot to the leg. He was carried to a ditch by one of the black trackers, Private Khiwa Sibanda as ZNA troops closed in on them. He swapped his lighter AK-47 with Khiwa’s machine gun and ordered him to cross the border. Wessels decided he would die fighting. He was last seen engaging several ZNA troops as he lay wounded. Khiwa managed to escape and evade ZNA troops for 3 days, zigzagging through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The families of Berry, Beech and Wessels were told the men had died in a training accident in Pretoria. The ex-Rhodesian black troops involved on Op Drama were told the mission never happened. Whenever the families attempted to talk to the survivors of Op Drama, the troops were immediately whisked away by South African authorities.

The narrative changed as the Zimbabwean press paraded the bodies of the operators. The South Africans laid the blame of ex-Rhodesian SAS Major Darrel Watts. The black op became an “unauthorized mission” by rogue Rhodesians. Khiwa was never allowed to interact with his brother operators. Many believed him dead until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when he resurfaced and attempted to testify on the circumstances of Op Drama. Watts left the SADF wrongfully disgraced, and many ex-Rhodesian operators followed in disgust.

Zimbabwe cremated and “disposed of” the remains of the three fallen operators. Spurred on by the failure of South Africans, Mugabe brought in North Korean military advisors who trained the 5th Brigade to combat dissidents. In the following up years, up to 30,000 Zimbabweans would be summarily killed in the massacres known as the Gukurahundi.

Despite attempts to expunge the story of these men, we will never forget Dave Berry, Bob Beech and Andy Wessels.

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