The Aftermath of the Cassinga Massacre : Survivors, Deniers and Injustices / Vilho Amukwaya Shigwedha, foreword by Ellen Ndeshi Namhila.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shigwedha, Vilho, author.

Contributor:

Namhila, Ellen Ndeshi, writer of foreword.

Series:

Basel Namibia studies series ; 18

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Massacres--Angola--Cassinga.

Massacres.

Refugees--Angola.

Refugees.

Refugees--Namibia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (186 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Basel, Switzerland : Basler Afrika Bibliographien Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library, [2017]

Summary:

It took the former South African Defence Force (SADF) less than four hours to kill more than eight hundred Namibian refugees at Cassinga on May 4, 1978. Thousands of survivors were left with irreparable physical and emotional injuries. The unhealed trauma of Cassinga, a Namibian civilian camp in southern Angola before the massacre, is beyond the worst that the victims of the attack experienced on the ground. Unacceptable layers of pain and suffering continue to grow and multiply as the victims grievances and other issues arising out of the aftermath of the massacre have been ignored, particularly following Namibias political independence.In this book, the afterlife of the victims traumatic memories and their aspiration for justice vis--vis the perpetrators enjoyment of blanket impunity from prosecution, in spite of their ongoing denial of killing and maiming innocent civilians at Cassinga, are explored with the aim to create public awareness about the unfortunate circumstances of the Cassinga victims.

Contents:

Foreword / by Ellen Namhila

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Overview

The attack

The rescuing task

The Cubans' intervention

The following day

Why Cassinga?

The systematic planning to kill civilians

Mass Burials : the "Iconic Photograph" and uther witness accounts

Remembering Cassinga and the challenge of representation

The "iconic photograph" and the search for the familiar

The purpose of picturing the open mass grave and contested representation of violence

The attackers' photographs and the eyewitness testimony

"Credible coverage" of the attack

"I personally saw him killing wounded civilians!"

Memory of the wounded body, oral testimony and the other

Scars are visible, the pain is hidden

Damaged bodies, long suffering and passive victimhood

The aftermath of Cassinga and the unapologetic perpetrators : guilty or innocent?

The day of parading and medals

The aftermath of violence, framed reconciliation, and injustice

The abandoned cassinga mass graves and breytenbach's visit

Conclusion

Appendices

Statement by the administrator-general for SWA, Judge MT Steyn

Statement by the commander general, gommander Southwest Africa, General Major JJ Geldenhuys, S.M.

Suggested approach for statement by Minister of Defence & the guidelines for statement by GOC SWA

Some photographs taken by the SADF during the cassinga attack.

Extract from the transcription of the author's interview with Rev. Samwel Mateus Shiininge about his experience of the 'Vietnam' attack.

UNICEF report on Namibian refugees at Cassinga before the attack.

"Cassinga battle account reveals biased claptrap : a former SADF Colonel who led forces in controversial battle speaks out"

Ellen Namhila's response to Jan Breytenbach's article "I was at cassinga and it was not a military base"

"Bullets do not lie, " jan breytenbach's response to Ellen Namhila's letter.

Jan breytenbach's role in regional and other conflicts

The SADF torture and deliberate killing of the suspected SWAPO fighters as told by lance corporal sean callaghan & warrant officer John Deegan, former SADF soldiers :

"Cassinga events need to be documented"

"Don't scrap cassinga day"

Abbreviations

List of figures

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9783905758924

390575892X

OCLC:

1381708465