10 YEARS OF CASSINGA MASSACRE 1978–1988 A LIVING MEMORY AMONG THE OPPRESSED (front)
WE SHALL NOT FORGIVE NOR FORGET (back)


The Battle of Cassinga, also known as the Cassinga Raid or Kassinga Massacre, was a controversial South African air raid on a South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) military camp in the town of Cassinga, Angola on May 4, 1978. It was the South African Army's first major air assault operation. There are conflicting reports about whether Cassinga was a military camp or if it was a refugee camp, which would make the act a massacre of civilians.

In 1998, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded:

It is clear that from the SADF’s perspective, Kassinga was a military facility rather than essentially a refugee camp or refugee transit facility, as SWAPO has always claimed. The photographic evidence shown to the Commission at the SADF archives suggests a military dimension to the camp. This cannot, however, be taken as conclusive evidence that Kassinga was a military base. In the context of the ongoing war in Angola, some defensive fortification of any SWAPO facility, whether civilian or military, would have been standard practice.

After independence, Namibia declared 4 May as 'Cassinga Day', in commemoration of the loss of life during the raid. In 2007, the names of the Cuban soldiers who were killed were carved into the wall of Freedom Park in South Africa.