On 11 January 1983, 32Bn Sergeant Dave van der Merwe and the four members of his reconnaissance team were flown by helicopter to a point 20 km east of the Virulundo mountain, 65 km south of Varai. It took them four days to hike to the top of the mountain, which offered visibility of up to 30 km to the north. Fakkel (torch) required the team to man a 24-hour observation post for the next four weeks, but as early as the second day they noted explosions to the north.
After this, regular blasts, personnel and vehicle movements were observed in the same area, and by 8 February intelligence officers had enough information to plot a possible SWAPO base in a 100-square-kilometre grid some nine kilometres north of the mountain. Ground reconnaissance was needed to pinpoint the location, and between 12 and 24 February, Captain Willem Ratte sent five teams of four men each, led by sergeants KD Clark and Kevin Sydow, lieutenants Nick de la Casa and Peter Waugh, and Sergeant Major Phill Kearns, to find the base.
On 26 February a large base – the first set up by SWAPO in the area – was detected eight kilometres north-east of the mountain near the Rolundo River. Having obtained this information, however, 32 Battalion was never ordered to attack the base.
From 32 Battalion – The Inside Story of South Africa’s Elite Fighting Unit | Piet Nortje