Daniel
Roxo part 4
From
Civilian to Soldier
1974
– 1975
“Brothers
in arms”
A
|
fter the unsuccessful
coup attempt in LM, Daniel like many other Portuguese men and women who
could be seen to have been involved in the attempted coup went to ground as the Portuguese authorities
and their new allies Frelimo where looking for him to question regards his involvement/participation
in the coup. As can be imagined Daniel would not have wanted to be taken to
jail and interrogated, as many other unfortunate Mozambicans were to
experience, including Daniel’s eldest brother Alipio, who was detained
for 3 months in Macahva jail by the authorities as they wanted him to
tell them the whereabouts of Daniel. When Frelimo realized that Alipio was not
going to tell them what had happened to Daniel he was released, but kept under
surveillance to check whether or not he would lead them to his brother, they
even had him under surveillance when he attended a close family members funeral
in LM.
A lesser known fact about
the detentions is that by the afternoon of 10 September the MFA/Frelimo
alliance used photographs that had been taken during the coup by news agencies
in an attempt to identify ringleaders as well as prominent people who
had taken part.
 |
| Daniel and Chris Vermaak in an earlier interview in Niassa |
Daniel took refuge in a half
finished apartment building and when he felt it was safe agreed to an interview
with renowned South African journalist Chris Vermaak, someone that Daniel knew and trusted, the interview was
re-printed in the Afrikaans magazine supplement of the Sunday newspaper “Rapport”
on the 31st of October 1976
more than 2 years after the interview and 2 months after his death as
part of a series of articles for the Rapport on Daniel and his life. In this particular
article Daniel explains that he was leaving Mozambique with his family because
the present Portuguese administration were unable to guarantee his or his
families safety or future in Mozambique and was apprehensive that having spent
ten years tracking down and killing Frelimo insurgents he would be arrested
and never be seen again, the fact that there was still a bounty on his head
also did not sit well with Daniel.
Daniel probably realized by
day 2 of the civil disobedience that if it failed he would be a hunted
man in Mozambique and he made arrangements for his wife and children to get to
Portugal, all these arrangements as can be imagined had to be made in secret
and via a trusted 3rd party, he knew if he contacted his
family in Beira directly that the MFA/Frelimo alliance would have had a good
chance to try and arrest them and use the as a bargaining chip.
In the same interview Daniel
suggests that he was moving to Portugal and would settle down in the village of
Mogadouro and that he would be able to obtain a job with the government due to
the fact he was a civil servant having been employed by the Portuguese
authorities. It has been suggested and its plausible that this information in
the interview was perhaps a smokescreen to keep Frelimo off his trail and to
allow the SADF time to de-brief him and use his skills to their advantage
without anyone being aware that he was in fact in South Africa and working for
the SADF.
Realizing that it was not
safe to stay at his brothers house as the authorities had started to look for
the ring leaders and were arresting anyone they could get their only hands on,
Daniel decided to get to the Komatipoort border and cross in to South
Africa to write the next chapter of his life. Over the years I have read or
heard many different stories/theories as to who took Daniel to the border, what
method of transport was used as well as what dangers he had faced, here is just
one of those stories/theories.
· Daniel was smuggled out of Lourenco Marques to the
South African Border by being welded in to a false petrol tank that had been
modified to ensure that he did not suffocate
The full
version of Daniel got to South Africa will be told in a book that is to be
published in Portugal this year. The chapter on Daniel will be called “Soldier
in the Shadows”. The following is a
condensed version of that journey.
Daniel
left Lourenco Marques by car around the 14th or 15th September. The driver of the vehicle remains
a mystery, however I believe that he was
well known to Daniel, as I do not believe that Daniel would have trusted his
life to a stranger. This has not been confirmed but I believe that Daniel may
have been dropped off before the border crossing and proceeded to cross the
border by foot as he would surely have been recognized at border control when
he produced his identification.
After
Daniel had crossed the border he booked into an establishment in a town called Malelane
that is not too far from the border post. The following day Daniel was met by officers
of the SADF Military Intelligence who travelled down to Malelane from
Pretoria. In Pretoria Daniel met up with other Portuguese men, 6 from Mozambique,
as well as numerous others from Angola and Guinea Bissau. Men that had been
identified, as future candidates for the SADF amongst them Ponciano, Jose
and Mauro. It’s interesting to see that most if not all of the
Portuguese that signed on used pseudonyms, this was to hide their real
identity I would presume. Daniel Roxo was known as Daniel Paulo, Poncaino Soeiro was known as Silva Soeiro and
Jose Ribeiro was known as Robbie Ribeiro.
Information I then received from an ex Special Forces operator shed
light on to what happened to Daniel after he as well as other ex Portuguese
security force members who had joined the SADF and not long after that I was to
receive confirmation by means of a letter Daniel had sent to a confidant about
how he was adapting to life in the SADF as well as the refresher courses he had
been attending.
Research shows Daniel was probably toying with the idea of joining
South African Military Intelligence to assist in covert collection and was
probably interviewed and screened for covert collection but was approached by Major
General Loots to join the Reconnaissance Commando after he
was made aware of Daniels pedigree from a source within the military
intelligence community. After Daniel had made the decision to join the
Reconnaissance Commando it is very unlikely that he would have done any work
for Covert collection. Members of the Special Forces were sometimes
involved in special collection tasks for Covert collection to verify
intelligence but they did so as a Special Forces unit under the command of the
GOC Special Forces. Serving 2 units would also have been against the rigid
principle of unity of command.
 |
| Fort Doppies |
South Africans who had been away from the camp while the Portuguese
arrived were taken to one side by Commandant Jan Breytenbach on their
return and informed that when they arrived back at the camp there would be a
few new faces that had not been there when they had left and that they should
be handled with care, “treat them with courtesy and keep totally quiet
regards the camps new visitors” was the general gist of the conversation.
The curiosity as to whom this group could be was however soon satisfied. The
source who provided this information made mention that prior to his bush trip
back to the Caprivi he had read an article in a magazine about a Daniel Roxo
who fought against Frelimo with one hundred “Flechas” and that he had
been fascinated by the article, he was very surprised when he saw Daniel
amongst the group of “new faces”.
Daniel is described as being the most mature of the Portuguese men
there as well as standing out as a natural leader. I find this comment
interesting because a high ranking Portuguese officer made the comment “That
Daniel would have made a fantastic Sergeant under the command of a good Special
Forces Officer”. Does this then mean it was only when Daniel joined the SADF he
became a good soldier? What about the 10 years Daniel successfully led The Niassa
Milicia de Intervencao and almost single handedly kept Frelimo out of
Niassa?. A comment like this says to me that either the Portuguese had no idea
what a gem they actually had in Daniel or only appreciated what Daniel and his
men had done after the war against Frelimo had ended.
 |
| Fort Doppies |
It must be emphasized that
at the time the group of South Africans at the camp were all senior shooting
instructors and were excellent shots. It was mentioned that Daniel, Jose,
Ponciano and Almarinda all shot well enough to be trusted in times of trouble
and what counted in the bush was that everyone would do his bit and cover his
area. In early 1975 a number of the South Africans at the camp had to complete
a minor tactics course and the Portuguese assisted as “extras”
by laying a spoor for the youngsters as well as the Bushmen to track and “catch”
us. One of the senior operators went out with Daniel, Robbie and Ponciano and
had a interesting few days, leading the tracking group all over the show and
play serious war games with them, as stated previously times like these brought
the Portuguese and the South Africans closer together.
Sometime in March 1975 while still at Fort Doppies a few of the
Portuguese including Daniel were given “unofficial” parachute
training a fact that is confirmed in letter that Daniel wrote to his South
African contact who he had last seen in LM during the LM coup, it’s also dated March
1975 and gives one of the clearest insights as to what Daniel had been
doing since leaving Mozambique.
After the parachute course at Doppies Daniel was given leave and he
took the opportunity to visit Pretoria and here he met up with a couple of
friends from Mozambique as well as visiting family that were also living in
Pretoria at the time. He told his friends that he was doing well and that he
had joined the South African Special Forces of which Major General Loots was the new boss.
Daniel, Ponciano, Mauro and a number of other Portuguese as well as
South African’s started their selection course in July 1975, the
course was held in Mtubatuba, Ngodweni, Sibaya in North Zululand all the way to
Ndumu game park where it ended.
The course was held on normal lines with no shortcuts for
Daniel who was 42 years old at the time, this I have been told would not have
been tolerated as the benchmark set for selection of Reconnaissance Commandos
had to be maintained and improved upon, to Daniels credit he never complained
and set about completing it with grim determination. Daniel did mention to a
colleague later that the selection course had been very tough, especially at
his age (I believe that at 41 he is the second oldest person ever to
undertake and pass the selection course). Daniel as well as the others were
eager to impress and the instructors of the course got on well with the men as
they where pleasant to work with and had a passion to become professional
soldiers, Daniel in particular was a modest and unassuming person and even
though his reputation had preceded him he never used this to receive special
treatment.
Another South African who completed the selection course with
Daniel had this to say. “Daniel Roxo did in fact do selection with us in
1975. He was already old for that type of endurance, but surprised us with his
ability to overcome difficulties and put mind over matter. He was a very good
friend of ours and we had many good laughs with him”. Only 7 men passed
this selection, 4 South Africans and 3 Portuguese (Daniel, Mauro and Ponciano). After they had
successfully completed the course General Loots as was the tradition came down
from Pretoria to personally congratulate the men.
Soon after the selection course Daniel as well as Poncianio and
Mauro were sent to complete an official parachute course at 1 Parachute Battalion
in Bloemfontein. While I have been unable to find any records that shows
Daniel and the other 2 attended this training. I was informed by 2 of the South
Africans that completed the Recce selection course as well as attended the
parachute training soon after that Daniel, Ponciano and Mauro did in fact
attend.
Some have said that Daniel was
nothing more than a Mercenary in the pay of South Africa, as you now
know he was a member of an elite SADF
unit and got paid the same as all other members of that unit. However in those
early days of the border war the SADF was not supposed to have foreign
nationals fighting for them and in the mid 70’s SA was “not In Angola at
all”. So perhaps this is where the misconception of Daniel being a
Mercenary comes from. He was not like a number of ex- Portuguese troops that
either joined MPLA the FNLA or UNITA and fought for them for all the loot they
could get from the towns they attacked and plundered.
Stephen Dunkley
23 January 2013
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