According to official records Askari ended on 20 January, but in fact 32 Battalion’s contingent, referred to as Task Force EV, stayed in the area east of Tetchamutete to continue operating against SWAPO, and Opsaal (Saddle Up) was actually the third phase of Askari.
On 21 January, three companies were stationed at Colonel Viljoen’s tactical headquarters seven kilometres north-east of Tetchamutete. Two companies found themselves 27 km south-east of Cassinga, while another company, one platoon and elements of the reconnaissance group were deployed around Tetchamutete.
On 23 January the anti-tank platoon was patrolling four kilometres southwest of Tetchamutete with their 106mm and Milan Unimogs, when one of the Milan vehicles detonated a mine, killing one soldier and injuring another five. The casualties were caused by the fact that the vehicle was overloaded, the men not only filling the two rear seats fitted with safety harnesses, but standing upright and unprotected.
Bravo and Foxtrot companies were sent to patrol the area to the south, and on 22 February Bravo was ten kilometres north-west of Mupa, while Foxtrot was deployed 36 km west of Ionde, where a tactical headquarters had been set up to control patrols in the Mupa area. Companies operating as far south as Cuvelai were under command of Viljoen’s tactical headquarters near Tetchamutete.
On 23 January, Charlie Company engaged a group of SWAPO building a bunker 15 km east of Cassinga. In the absence of air support against SWAPO’s mortars and recoilless guns, the platoon was forced to break contact and withdraw fairly quickly, one member suffering serious wounds. On the same day, engineers operating with a company ten kilometres south-west of Cuvelai located a minefield and lifted 46 x TM 57 anti-tank mines.
On 27 January, while probing towards Cuvelai to determine if the enemy had reoccupied the town, Alpha Company came upon a GAZ truck loaded with 23mm ammunition, probably abandoned by the task force responsible for clearing the town during Operation Askari. The truck was driven to Ionde and the cargo used to replenish 32Bn’s ammunition supplies. The next day, Charlie Company tracked and made contact with a group of 40 SWAPO eight kilometres east of Cassinga. The firefight left two members of the platoon wounded. Meanwhile, the force deployed east of Cassinga began moving south, deploying 23mm guns and two 81mm mortars 27 km south-east of Cassinga, and one company ten kilometres south-west of Cuvelai. Another minefield was cleared, and nine PMD 6 and four TM 57 mines were lifted before all companies were ordered to withdraw from the Cuvelai and Cassinga area in terms of political negotiations that were under way. Bravo, Foxtrot and Golf companies, under control of the tactical headquarters at Ionde, continued to patrol the area, making contact with small groups of SWAPO around Dova and Mupa.
On 19 March a member of the local population handed a SWAPO prisoner over to Golf Company ten kilometres north-west of Dova, and a day later, with agreement reached on the Joint Monitoring Commission (JMC), orders were issued for the tactical headquarters at Ionde to be vacated and for all troops to return to Buffalo Base.
From 32 Battalion – The Inside Story of South Africa’s Elite Fighting Unit | Piet Nortje