This military establishment and particularly the generals have so much fear for the scribes. This unsettling history goes back as far as the days of Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe. Merafhe was no friend to the news media. The animosity came to a climax in May 1986 after the South African Defence Force raided BDF’s headquarters at Sir Seretse Khama Barracks (SSKB). Their mission was to kill as many refugees they could lay their hands on in Mogoditshane. While the Puma helicopters landed on the grounds of Dihutso Primary School in preparation for the assault, the other commando team had landed their helicopters at SSKB.
This was the most humiliating of all actions in the history of BDF because the Boer commandos had cut off BDF soldiers from the operations area. The few brave soldiers that tried to leave their residences for the operational area were met by several bursts of a General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) which was mounted on a hovering helicopter. I am not just writing from a perspective of history, but I was an eye witness as a resident of Mogoditshane.
