Troepie Snapshots- Pictorial recollections of the South African Border War, Cameron Blake

A photographic slice of conscript life in the South African Defence Force

This pictorial is a compilation of images obtained by the author while working on his first book—an oral history of pre-1994 South African Defence Force national service. It was illegal to take photos; however, there were inevitably those conscripts who ignored the rules, aiming their cheap, disposable cameras at whatever they could, but usually among comrades or when it was considered safe to do so.

Inevitably certain images are poor in quality, often blurred and off-centre. But that is the reality—hastilytaken amateur snapshots. Even so, many are remarkably clear, serving to illustrate a period when over 600,000 white South African males, between 1951 and 1993, were ordered to join the South African Defence Force for service mainly ‘on the border’, or the ‘Operational Area’—South West Africa (Namibia) and Angola. It is of note that all the photos, apart from Operation Protea, were taken by non-professional soldiers; young men some would call boys.

Some patriotically embraced their call-ups as an opportunity to serve their country, while most stoically accepted their unsought-for lot—the law, and a war to protect South Africa from the spread of communism, the Red Tide.