Page 183 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

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litary Academy was a valuable national asset entrusted to Stellenbosch University and well
worth nurturing. Moreover, compulsory military service, first by means of a ballot system
(1963) and then through general conscription (1972) followed on the heels of the first shots
of the Bush War (Ungulumbashe, northern Namibia, 1966 and Wankie, Rhodesia, 1967),
which meant that many civilian students had seen some military service, even operational
service in the ‘Bush’, when they arrived on campus. Should any anti-Academy sentiments
ever have surfaced on the main campus, it would certainly more likely have been rooted in
the diverging military and academic/student subcultures rather than political sentiment at
the time.
as a direct result of the visit from Die Matie, closer social interaction was forged
37
between the two campuses. From 1974 the military students participated in the annual Matie
Carnival (rag) at the invitation of the Students’ Council at Stellenbosch and from 1977
38
they competed as a full ‘men’s residence’ with the other residences during that event. They
planned their participation with ‘military precision’ and dominated the scene in terms of
funds raised and points earned for years to come. Their repeated Carnival victories over
their civilian peers frustrated the latter tremendously, because they felt that their salaries and
logistical support from the Defence force gave them an unfair advantage. But this never
39
led to any serious confrontations and the Carnival definitely forged better social integration
between the two campuses, even if more so between the Academy students and the members
of the fairer sex – very much in short supply at Saldanha - on the main campus! It became
tradition for the Academy students to invite the ladies’ residence with whom they teamed
up for Carnival each year to Saldanha on the weekend before the Carnival to build esprit
de corps for the competitions ahead. During the Carnival weekend, the Academy students
‘advanced’ on Stellenbosch in military transport and went in true military style into bivouac
in their army tents at a Vergenoeg or another suitable camping site near campus. On campus
they participated in the raft-building and other Carnival activities with their chosen ladies’
residence to their hearts’ delight an generally just let their hair down and surrendered to the
pleasures of student life. These activities probably did more than anything else to make
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the Academy students, especially the first-years, feel like full-blooded Maties and establish
good civilian-military relations on campus.
However as the turbulent 1980s approached, despite good relationships between the
majority of students at Stellenbosch and students of the Military Academy, the situation
changed somewhat. Afrikaner hegemony was not to hold – in any case not nearly as it was in

37 P. de Villiers (with photograps by J. van den Heever): ‘Saldanha: Fort van ons vergete Maties’. Die Matie, 7
August 1970, p. 5 (author’s translation).
38 SANDFA, Mil. Acad. (Gp. 3) 49, A/PERS/37/2 vol. 1, Chair SU Carnival Committee – OC Mil. Acad., 12
January 1974.
39 See Military Academy Annual, 1977 - 1990.
40 SANDFA, Mil. Akad. (Gp. 3) 64, G/SD/3/1/20 MA, Special Unit Order No. 3/77, 17 February 1977; SAN-
DFA, Mil. Acad. (Gp. 4) 30, MA/103/14/K vol. 3, Acting OC Mil. Acad. – Sport Secretary SU, 27 January
19781; Mil. Acad. (current archive), MA/B/103/14/K vol. 4, Sec. Mil. Acad. Carnival Committee – OC Mil.
Acad., 5 February 1985; Mil. Acad. (current archive), MA/B/103/14/K vol. 4, Lt. H. Burger – Sport Secre-
tary SU, 23 Januarie 1986; Military Academy Annual, 1977 - 1990.