MR NONDULA
November, I think it's November 1985.  What actually transpired is, we were first briefed by our fellow Commander as to the nature of the operation that we were going to undertake, which in this case was landmines.  The briefing went thus:  politically speaking the Soutpansberg area was regarded, now let me say in military terms, the farming community in this area was regarded as the first echelon of defence in the sense that the population there was actually sponsored or even encouraged by the Government to maintain that area as being the trained personnel, therefore in this sense, legitimate targets in the view of MK and the African National Congress.  They were trained as Commandos to safeguard the border area and thus our order was then given to operate in the area.