by Hannes Wessels
Recent revelations exposing Oxfam as a well organised haven for sexual predators should not come as a surprise to anyone who has paid any attention to these disgustingly overpaid charlatans who have turned charity into a sick joke. Recent reports indicate that when not milking the public purse and preying on the misplaced guilt of ill-informed Europeans to extract money from them, staffers at the highest level have been having a marvellous time foisting themselves upon the poor people they have been deployed to nurture and uplift.
Oxfam’s country director in Haiti has resigned after admitting using prostitutes at the charity’s rented villa in Port Au Prince known as the ‘Eagles Nest’ while other sexual shenanigans were regular events at a building known as the ‘pink apartments’ where Oxfam managers were accommodated. Some of the girls submitting to these brutes were as young as 14. There seems to be little doubt that this criminal activity was known to the Oxfam hierarchy which simply looked the other way. Incidentally, it’s worth noting, that other legendary liberal democrat and sex pest, Bill Clinton, was closely involved with the so-called aid initiatives in the country. Whether or not he was also getting a piece of the action remains unknown but if his record is anything to go by he has not been slow in snatching sexual opportunities when they come his way. New reports are surfacing about sexual malfeasance in the Sudan and in the UK where young employees working in retail outlets were subjected to sexual abuse.
The Oxfam disclosures came as no surprise to me. Over 30 years ago, at the height of the massacres that were taking place in western Zimbabwe under the direct orders of Robert Mugabe this same group of holier than thou liberal, virtue-signallers who held us white Zimbabweans in complete and utter contempt, were approached with an urgent request to tell the world what was happening right under their noses in a bid to shame the authorities into ending their murderous campaign. Led by a gentleman by the name of Mike Behr they flatly refused, insisting rather lamely that blowing the whistle on the killers would prejudice their operations in the country.
The bigger problem for Mr Behr was if he had found the gumption to do the honourable thing, he knew this would jeopardise, not only Oxfam’s tenure but his job and he was on a fat salary living the good life so the Ndebele, in their thousands, would just have to hurry up and die. Mr Behr’s insistence on remaining mute led one critic to warn him that if he stayed too silent too long there would be nobody left for them to offer assistance to.
Of course, that other large paedophile ring known as the BBC also lost its voice when it came to reporting negatively about Mugabe’s murderous machinations; after all this was a man who they had worked so hard to empower through the dissemination of lies and half-truths while vilifying the people that opposed him on the specious grounds that anyone with a white skin in southern Africa was a racist oppressor.
It is this misconception so widely held by so many for so long that is so infuriating. In Rhodesia, the country that I grew up in, I don’t remember too many of the internationally loathed, ‘oppressive white settler’ community being involved in underage sex with underprivileged children. When that sort of behaviour did take place, justice was invariably, swiftly done.
Some years ago, I was visited by a professor of African History from Harvard University doing research into the Rhodesian war with a special interest in the Selous Scouts. I was very happy to help her but became slightly guarded when I realised what the thrust of her interest was; which was to publicise real or imagined atrocities committed by the Rhodesian security forces. When I told her that with the best will in the world I was going to be of little help to her in this endeavour, not because I wished to hide information but simply because atrocities of the type she believed took place, never happened. This was met with disbelief and so I asked her to explain why the Mugabe regime, despite vigorous efforts over many years had produced little or no evidence of the nature of events she was in search of.
She then got me thinking when she insisted that there must surely have been widespread sexual abuse because a far-flung war of the nature that was fought in Rhodesia made it easy for troops in small groups in the field to behave badly. She pressed her point by reminding me that in Vietnam, American troops routinely raped and abused civilian woman in the field of operations. I had never applied my mind to this question but quickly regained my confidence when I was able to tell her with absolute honesty that in my time as a serving soldier, I never saw or heard of this happening which was met with amazement. On the contrary, I was however, able to tell her I do remember a man I served with stealing a small transistor radio from a village that had been at the centre of an attack that I was involved in. The villagers had been feeding and supporting the enemy, exposing themselves to retribution of the type visited upon them but when a report was made to the authorities about the theft, the soldier involved was immediately charged and punished.
Her probing into the Selous Scouts continued and I noted her eagerness to extract from me some sort of acknowledgement that this regiment surely had civilian blood on its hands. It just so happened that I had in my office a file that was at the bedside of Colonel Ron Reid Daly when he died. Inside were letters from over a hundred African schoolchildren who had written to him at the height of the war to thank him for the school and the church he and his fellow Selous Scouts had built for them during the time he was the commander of this elite unit. All the materials used in the construction of these facilities had been provided by the soldiers themselves from their own resources. Unlike Oxfam which is generously funded by the UK tax-payer and donors around the world.
I pointed out to her that reading these letters had given this remarkable man immense joy in his closing days. I explained to my interlocutor that this was a true reflection on the nature of the man who commanded the Selous Scouts and the men who served under him.
Juxtaposed to this we now know that many of the missionaries and their associates who operated in the country during that tragic time, who were so vehemently opposed to the government of the day and the security forces, were, like the Oxfam employees, involved in sexually abusive behaviour that was known about within the various religious organisations and almost always this information was suppressed.
Bishop Donal Lamont, icon of the liberal left who was deported from Rhodesia in 1977 due to his support for the country’s enemies returned the new nation of Zimbabwe in 1980 in triumph but his stay was lamentably short. Following a vicious assault by two black priests he was hospitalised in South Africa before returning to his native Ireland where he would watch from afar as the country drifted into authoritarian ruin. The motivation for the assault on him was never clarified but the word from the parish was that there were conflicting issues of a sexual nature.
The moral of the story seems to suggest that for those wishing to live their lives engaging routinely in acts of sexual depredation be sure to be a liberal and for added cover become a missionary or join an aid organisation and just to be sure, become a Trump-hater. Being a conservative or libertarian will absolutely not do.
Discover more from Africa Unauthorised
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
A very factual report. The simple answer is , in a war zone you stop and obey the rules ,you want to hide something you run and face the consequences. How simple.
the troops did nothing wrong and if I was in charged I would not carry in form of guilt,.
she brought it on herself.
PETER GROVE
I have a request for Hannes Wessels, can you investigate the story of the Italian doctor Luisa Guidotti, who worked in the mission of all Souls near Motoko.
There are many different stories about her death on the 6th of July 1979.
Here is one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Guidotti_Mistrali
And an other one:
http://20thcenturymartyrs.blogspot.pt/2006/06/missionary-from-modena-luisa-guidotti.html
The story I heard from an eye witness (my late husband, Russell Stotter) was different.
There were many incidents of landmines on the Motoko road and the police was setting up a roadblock. They asked the army as a backup who were at a distance of the roadblock. It was after dark (8 pm?) that a dark sedan driving at a high speed and trying to avoid the roadblock. The police opened fire and the driver was killed instant. The booth of the car flew open and was loaded with Chinese landmines. The driver was doctor Luisa Guidotti.
She was not driving in an ambulance and she was not driving at 10 am but after curfew time.
I was at that moment in Holland, otherwise I would have cut out the story for my scrapbooks (collected from 1978 till 1985 on a daily basis) In September 1979 Jennifer Boyd, a district nurse, was traveling along this Motoko road to supply the clinics in the rural area. Her landmine proof vehicle hit a mine and she and her 4 black colleagues survived but the terrorists were waiting in ambush and killed all 5 district nurses.
Her name is mentioned here but the year is wrong, Not 1978 but 1979. I met her and she asked if I wanted to join District nursing.
https://www.warbooks.co.za/blogs/news/66556931-lest-we-forget-27-september
What is the real story of Luisa Guidotti? Driving in a marked ambulance with a patient or in a dark sedan, trying to avoid the roadblock and transporting landmines?
An incident on the 6th July 1979 brought home the dilemma Guard Force soldiers of 1 BN faced when deployed on operations. The war, we call the Rhodesian War, met all the criteria of a civil war. If we call it Terrorist War or Liberation Struggle, the effect is the same. It affects the civilian population more than the soldiers. The European farmer blown up by a landmine or killed in an ambush or during an attack on his homestead, the rural African peasant killed in crossfire or as a curfew breaker by Security Forces or murdered as a collaborator by insurgents, are just some of the numerous civilian victims of this Civil War. This is the story of the incident:
On the morning of the 6th July 1979 a convoy with soldiers from 1 BN travelling from Mudzi to Mtoko saw a body of a dead person lying in the middle of the Main road in the vicinity of the turn-off to the All Souls Mission. His hands were tied and a note pinned to his body stated that he was a traitor who had served with Guard Force. The young Guard Force Officer in charge of the convoy deployed his soldiers in an all round defence. Clearance patrols swept the area and other soldiers set up two vehicle check points on both ends of the business centre to stop and search vehicles. Groups of Mujibhas were seen moving around in the area close by which was an indication that insurgents were not far away. The same Mujibhas were probably responsible for the murder of the person found dead on the road. The situation became tense when the soldiers got engaged in two fleeting contacts [ firefights ] with mujibhas and insurgents.
In the meantime a truck approaching from direction Mtoko was stopped at the vehicle checkpoint and searched by the soldiers. During the search another car, a LandRover ambulance, whose ambulance markings were not visible due to the roll bars, approached from the same direction and was signalled to stop. It stopped, but shortly thereafter started to drive off again and turned down the All Souls road without any indication. The Guard Force Officer in charge, stated “that the first indication that the vehicle had moved off without authority was when I heard the soldiers shouting STOP – STOP. I ran to assess the situation and saw that the vehicle was accelerating away. I then ordered the soldiers closest to the vehicle to open fire. The soldiers did not open fire before receiving my orders to do so. Three shots were fired. I saw then the break lights of the vehicle coming on and ordered cease fire which was instantly obeyed. The soldiers concerned conducted themselves in a professional manner. They cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoing. I gave the order, and with the information I had at the time I was justified to act as I did. “The vehicle came to a stand-still. The only passenger in the vehicle was Dr. Luisa Guidotti, a Missionary Doctor, working at All Souls Mission. She was shot in the leg and bleeding. The Guard Force officer, a well trained paramedic, provided first aid and she was then transported by road to the Mtoko Hospital. She died before reaching the hospital.
It was a tragic event and immediately exploited by the then enemy propaganda machinery and used by the international media to speak out against the country. It was also a tragic event for the young Guard Force Officer. Dr. Guidotti was an Italian national and he himself was of Italian ancestry. His parents knew Dr. Guidotti and told him to look after her. As he explained “ I had not met Dr. Guidotti before the incident and did not know with whom her sympathies were lying and therefore had no animosity towards her. We were in transit at the time and out of our area of operations. I did not know the area nor the enemy disposition on the ground.
As Dr. Guidotti had lived in the specific operational area for some considerable time, one can assume that she must have encountered many military and police vehicle check points / roadblocks. Therefore she must have known the consequences of jumping a vehicle check point or roadblock. With her experience in such situations, maybe the question should be asked is: “Why did she do it? “ We will never know. To put it bluntly, her action directly contributed to her own death.
Dr. Guidotti, like some other missionaries, was known for her medical support she provided to the insurgents. Was it for humanitarian reasons, to follow the Geneva Convention as she claimed or sympathy for the cause of the insurgents?
John Dove, the author of the book “ LUISA “ [ published in 1989 by Mambo Press in Zimbabwe ] a fellow missionary and close friend of Dr. Guidotti, wrote in his book:
“ Luisa’s relationship with the guerrillas was excellent although she was always wary of new groups. Would they know about her? Before the time of the keep they visited her regularly at night time bristling with arms and clenched fist salutes. She made them feel at home. They relaxed and told her of their ailments. Now, during the period of the keep they could not reach her. They sent messages with young girls and requests for this or that medicine. Luisa always judged according to the medical need. “
Did the Guard Force soldiers kill Dr. Guidotti because she was providing medical support to the insurgents? The answer is a clear and strong “ NO “ . The soldiers opened fire because in an area infested with insurgents and mujibhas, a car driving away from a vehicle checkpoint without being given the go-ahead is seen as trying to avoid of being searched. The discovery of the body of a murdered African person, with the note on his body and two fleeting contacts with mujibhas and insurgents and the pressure on the commander directing multiple operations at the same time, contributed to the tense situation in an area dominated by the enemy.
President Mugabe, who wrote the foreword for the above mentioned book, stated that “In 1977-79 the war intensified generally and particularly in this area. To the freedom fighters and the local population, the area was now known as a liberated zone. This statement confirms the situation in the area where the incident happened. “A tragic most regrettable incident which haunts me still today, thirty five years later “ as the young Guard Force Officer commented. The ugly face of Civil War, the dilemma it created for our soldiers on the ground and the suffering it created for civilians on both sides of the fence.
As described by former Asst Comdt. Andy Odorico, the young Guard Force Officer involved in the incident. Compiled by former Snr. Comdt. Horst Schobesberger, CO 1 BN [ JUNE 2014 ].
Well said, as usual, Hannes. Your analyses of all the events on which you comment, seem accurate and honest. I also enjoy the high standard of grammar and language- what a change from the normal in SA!! Keep it up!
VERY GOOD ARTICALS ON AFRICA AND RHODESIA.
FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY THE PRESS THEY DID NOT GIVE A DAM ABOUT OUR ACHIEVEMENTS.
WHAT WE AND OUR ANCESTORS BUILT UP WERE DESTROYED BY ROBERT IN NO TIME AT ALL.
WE WILL FOREVER BE LABELLED AS THE BADDIES, BUT THOSE OF US WHO WERE THERE
AND INVOLVED KNOW THE TRUTH.
PETER GROVE
Thanks Hannes, another good one. I all ways wondered why Lamont got beaten up , and thought that he was doing the wrong thing. Also the nun who is still around with her comments my boy friends from the bush.?? Pity we could not know the true facts to publise them and maybe beat them at their own game. When Oxfam , advertisers here in Oz, the people don’t miss them , and you would have one pro oxfam for about ten anti Oxfam. I think these organisations have their use by date now, everyone questioning them and very anti.
sorry to disappoint you but I remember 2 French guys from 7 Independant Company going on an operation near Mukumbura, raped a local villager. They were charged with the crime but were deported back to France.
However the ZANLA members were always raping and murdering, it was part of their politicisation of all locals in Op Hurricane.
Brilliant !
Well said Hannes, I couldn’t agree with you more. The loony Left just seems to get worse with each passing year.