Operation Hectic was a planned operation to be conducted by the

Rhodesian Security Forces The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel ...

. The plan was designed as an underpinning operation to Operation Quartz. The plan was intended to be used to assassinate

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

and other high ranking ZANU leaders at their headquarters. The operation was cancelled three hours before it was due to start.

Background

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

had unilaterally declared independence from the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

under white

minority rule In political science, minoritarianism (or minorityism) is a neologism for a political structure or process in which a minority group of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that population's decision making, with legislative power or ...

. ZANU engaged in armed guerilla warfare against the Rhodesian government in the

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...

. Following the

Lancaster House Agreement The Lancaster House Agreement is an agreement signed on 21 December 1979 in Lancaster House, following the conclusion of a constitutional conference where different parties discussed the future of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, formerly known as Rhodesia ...

, Rhodesia returned to British control in 1979 as

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

so that free elections could be held under universal suffrage. During that time, Mugabe had survived a number of assassination attempts. The Rhodesian Security Forces came up with Operation Hectic as a backup plan in case ZANU lost the election and returned to guerrilla warfare. Both

ZIPRA Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), a Marxist–Leninist political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...

and

ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...

forces had been required to gather at designated points as part of the Agreement.

Plan

The plan for Operation Hectic involved the Rhodesian SAS taking four of the

Rhodesian Armoured Corps The Rhodesian Armoured Corps, nicknamed the "Black Devils" — was the only standing armoured cavalry battalion of the Rhodesian Army. During World War II, it took part in the Allied Spring 1945 offensive and the Battle of Monte Cassino as pa ...

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...

tanks to the Audio Visual Arts building of the

University of Rhodesia The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the Univers ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

to eliminate Mugabe and the ZANU leaders in case they lost the election. The Rhodesian forces would be backed up by

South African Special Forces The South African Special Forces Brigade, colloquially known as the Recces (from "reconnaissance"), is South Africa's principal military special operations unit specialising in various types of operations, including counter-insurgency, counte ...

and

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

helicopters. The plan would be justified on the grounds of false reports of ZANU guerillas attacking churches. It was scheduled to operate alongside Operation Quartz carried out by the

Rhodesian Light Infantry The 1st Battalion, Rhodesian Light Infantry (1RLI), commonly The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), was a regiment formed in 1961 at Brady Barracks (Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia) as a light infantry unit within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia ...

and

Selous Scouts The Selous Scouts was a special forces unit of the Rhodesian Army that operated during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1973 until the reconstitution of the country as Zimbabwe in 1980. It was mainly responsible for infiltrating the black majority ...

. However, as a distinctive plan, it was not planned in as much detail as Quartz was and details were thin due to disputes about it within

Combined Operations In current military use, combined operations are operations conducted by forces of two or more allied nations acting together for the accomplishment of a common strategy, a strategic and operational and sometimes tactical cooperation. Intera ...

. The operations would have been initiated by the passing of the codeword "Quartz". However the Operation was called off three hours before it was due to start due to Mugabe winning the election.

References

{{Reflist 1980 in Zimbabwe Failed assassination attempts in Africa Aftermath of the Rhodesian Bush War Robert Mugabe