IdeaCandy docuseries Unspoken War looks to start a national conversation

The war is over; the silence is not.

IdeaCandy has dropped the official trailer for Unspoken War, a raw and haunting Showmax Original documentary series premiering on the African streamer and M-Net on Wednesday, 12 November 2025.

Between 1966 and 1989, South Africa fought a brutal, covert war across Angola, Namibia, and within its own borders. This was known variously as the South African Border War, the Angolan Bush War, or the Namibian War of Independence. 

No formal declaration of war was ever made. Soldiers were ordered not to speak about it. Families were left guessing about what their loved ones had done and endured.

Through rare archival footage and intimate personal testimony, Unspoken War gathers voices from across the conflict: South African Defence Force (SADF) conscripts (some as young as 16 at the time), voluntary servicemen, Special Battalion commanders, SWAPO fighters, spies, conscientious objectors and wives and daughters who live in the wake. Historians and journalists also place the conflict within the broader context of the Cold War and the “threat of communism”.

Watch the Unspoken War trailer

The Showmax Original is produced by IdeaCandy, the company behind the multi-award-winning documentary Steinheist, and School Ties, which was recently nominated for an International Emmy. 

The five-part series is directed by Nikki Comninos (2024 Best Documentary Series SAFTA nominee for Convict Conman and Showmax true-crime record-holder Tracking Thabo Bester).

The spark for the documentary came from the IdeaCandy team and was deepened by the experience of junior producer Minette van der Walt, whose own father fought for SADF in the elite 32 Battalion but never spoke to her about it.

After discovering his written account of the war, Minette went on a personal journey to better understand her father, working alongside Nikki, journalist Pieter Steyn, and IdeaCandy producers Elle Oosthuizen and Wim Steyn to develop Unspoken War.

The series also explores the aftermath of the war, where SADF soldiers were redeployed from fighting in Angola and Namibia to patrol South African townships during the state of emergency in the late 1980s, now expected to fight against their own countrymen rather than foreign “communists”. Some went on to become mercenaries for hire, their skills weaponised in conflicts across Africa.

At the premiere of Unspoken War at this year’s Silwerskerm, long after Theatre on the Bay had been locked up for the night, the pavement was still packed with audience members discussing the first episode, finally voicing their own personal stories and raising the questions they’d suppressed for so long. 

“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.”

“This is a national trauma, and almost everyone has an experience connected to these conflicts,” says Nikki. “Research suggests that after 30-40 years many veterans are more comfortable talking openly and honestly. But there's also an urgency - many who were involved are reaching the end of their lives. We have a responsibility to capture these stories now, so those impacted can finally make sense of this past.”

Unspoken War arrives at a critical moment. In 2024, there were 61 state-based conflicts across 36 countries - a post-World War II high. So Unspoken War is a timely reminder that when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

Binge Unspoken War on Showmax from Wednesday, 12 November 2025 or watch at 9PM on Wednesdays on M-Net until 10 December 2025.