Eat my call up!

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Angelo

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Hi guys, there's a very interesting programme called "Eat my call up!", it's on SABC 2 now!
 
Seems to be conscripts in the late 70s early 80s, quite interesting. Glad I missed that crap.
 
Fudzy said:
Seems to be conscripts in the late 70s early 80s, quite interesting. Glad I missed that crap.
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EAT MY CALL-UP, directed by Naashon Zalk, tells the story of four men who, facing lengthy jail terms, refused to "serve" in the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the 1980's.

From 1967 until 1993 all white males were conscripted into the SADF. The influence of the military increased dramatically after Angola and Mozambique’s independence in 1975 and the Soweto uprising in 1976. The SADF invaded Angola and destabilised much of Southern Africa. In 1984 the army was deployed into the townships, during the first State of Emergency. The penalty for refusing the call-up was a jail sentence of up to six years without parole. In response the End Conscription Campaign (ECC) was launched in 1983.

In 1980 Dr. Ivan Toms built a clinic in Crossroads squatter settlement, near Cape Town. He was the only doctor serving its 60 000 residents. After witnessing the army and police’s brutality in Crossroads he refused to return to the army. In 1988 he was sentenced to 21 months in jail and spent nine months in Pollsmoor prison, seven of those in solitary confinement.

Marius van Niekerk was a Special Forces “parabat”. Fresh out of school, he was deployed in Angola, Rhodesia and Mozambique in 1979 and 1980. Suffering from severe war trauma he went into exile in Sweden rather than go back to the army. He returned to South Africa in 2005 to continue his work counselling war veterans.

Charles Bester was the youngest objector to be imprisoned for his beliefs. In 1988, aged 18, he was sentenced to six years prison and served 20 months in jail.

Andre Zaaiman confronted his Afrikaans community in the search for truth and became a conscientious objector and ANC member in 1986. His decision led him to question his Afrikaner identity and brought the political rifts within his family to a head.
 
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Mamma se seuntjie moet maar eerder in die kombuis bly en koekies bak...shame.
 
But Angelo will tell you that those people were white, and equally guilty of apartheid, so their brave actions don't count (?)
 
Didnt Jehovahs witnessess get a lot of problems? From what I understand, they follow the "do not kill" commandment to the letter.
 
kinda linked, I am currently reading " An unpopular war - from af*** to bosbe***" very interesting reading as it tells you what happened from basics to what the recces got up to - there is even some stuff about the religious objectors who were spending time in prison
 
xtermin8or said:
kinda linked, I am currently reading " An unpopular war - from af*** to bosbe***" very interesting reading as it tells you what happened from basics to what the recces got up to - there is even some stuff about the religious objectors who were spending time in prison
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Thanks, will have a look for it.
 
xtermin8or said:
kinda linked, I am currently reading " An unpopular war - from af*** to bosbe***" very interesting reading as it tells you what happened from basics to what the recces got up to - there is even some stuff about the religious objectors who were spending time in prison
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Great read. I bought a copy at the airport in december.
 
w1z4rd said:
Didnt Jehovahs witnessess get a lot of problems? From what I understand, they follow the "do not kill" commandment to the letter.
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When I was conscripted in, our training base was next to the Johovah's Witnesses prison camp. They did gardening and weightlifting all day long.

We called them "The Blou Jobs" because they wore blue overalls.
 
Did one have a choice in which branch (Army , Air Force , Navy and SA Medical Services) you wanted to do your NS ?
 
RompelStompel said:
Did one have a choice in which branch (Army , Air Force , Navy and SA Medical Services) you wanted to do your NS ?
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They, the govt, made us register ourselves while we were still around 15-16 years old. We had no choice in where they put us.

Towards the end of our matric year, we received a letter, the infamous "call up", informing us that we were to be trained at a certain unit ant to report to the Castle to enter into basic training. After 6 months of training they come to you and ask if you were interested in joining the specail battalions like the recces or the bats etc.

I was called up to the Military Police, and my brothers were called up to the Tiffies. Many of my friends had to join infantry or communications.
 
They made me register when I was 16... fortunately in my matric year everything was changed, thanks to the political change in SA. So very thankful for that. I was planning on ducking out of SA to escape the conscription.
 
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