IdeaCandy has released the official trailer for Unspoken War, a raw and deeply affecting Showmax Original documentary series set to premiere on Showmax and M-Net on Wednesday, 12 November 2025.
Between 1966 and 1989, South Africa fought a brutal and covert war across Angola, Namibia, and its own borders. Known by different names – the South African Border War, the Angolan Bush War, or the Namibian War of Independence – it was a conflict never formally declared.
Soldiers were ordered to keep silent. Families were left in the dark about what their loved ones had done, seen, or endured.
Through rare archival footage and intimate interviews, Unspoken War amplifies the voices of those silenced by time and trauma – South African Defence Force (SADF) conscripts (some as young as 16), voluntary servicemen, Special Battalion commanders, SWAPO fighters, spies, conscientious objectors, and the wives and daughters who still live in the war’s shadow.
The series also features historians and journalists who frame the war within the larger context of the Cold War and the paranoia surrounding the “threat of communism.”
The Team Behind Unspoken War
Produced by IdeaCandy — the company responsible for acclaimed documentaries Steinheist and School Ties (recently nominated for an International Emmy) – this five-part Showmax Original is directed by Nikki Comninos.
Comninos, who previously helmed Convict Conman and the record-breaking Tracking Thabo Bester, brings a signature sensitivity and cinematic realism to the project.
A Personal Spark That Ignited a National Story
The concept for Unspoken War originated with the IdeaCandy team and took on new emotional depth through the experience of junior producer Minette van der Walt.
Her father, a former member of the elite 32 Battalion, had never spoken about his time in the SADF. After discovering his written account of the war, Minette began a deeply personal journey to understand both her father and the collective silence surrounding that era.
Working alongside Nikki Comninos, journalist Pieter Steyn, and producers Elle Oosthuizen and Wim Steyn, she helped shape a series that dares to confront what was buried for decades.
The Aftermath — Soldiers Turned Inward
Unspoken War doesn’t stop at the battlefield. It examines what came after – when SADF soldiers, once fighting in Angola and Namibia, were reassigned to patrol South African townships during the late 1980s state of emergency.
These men were suddenly asked to turn their weapons inward, against their own countrymen. Some later became mercenaries, their combat skills commodified and exported to other African conflicts.
The Conversations That Followed
When Unspoken War premiered at the Silwerskerm Festival, the response was overwhelming. Long after the screening ended, crowds gathered outside Theatre on the Bay, deep in conversation, finally sharing their own memories and asking the questions they had kept buried for years.
“The more I met people who helped me understand the war, the more I realised that when I’m in conversation with them, it helps both of us,” says Minette. “There is power in talking.”
Director Nikki Comninos adds, “This is a national trauma. Almost everyone has some connection to these conflicts. After 30 or 40 years, veterans are finally ready to talk – but time is running out. We have a duty to capture their stories before they’re lost.”
A Timely Reminder
With 61 state-based conflicts recorded across 36 countries in 2024 — the highest number since World War II — Unspoken War serves as a sobering reflection on how history echoes into the present.
It’s a reminder that when elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.
Unspoken War premieres on Showmax on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, with new episodes airing Wednesdays at 9 PM on M-Net until 10 December 2025.
Check out the trailer for the documentary below:
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