What do our okes have in common with Al Qaeda?

Who would have thought. It turns out that Al Qaeda share an appreciation for something that is at the core of South African culture: the double-cab bakkie. In this fascinating piece in Newsweek, it emerges that the Hilux is famous in war-torn regions across the world.

Whether we’re talking the Taliban, Somali pirates or Iraqi insurgents, they are all aficionados of the Hilux, which is known in these regions as “the technical”. There’s even a war named after the Hilux: the Toyota War of the 1980s between Libya and Chad.

In Pakistan, a double cab is apparently a sign that the occupants are Al Qaeda. “They use the twin-cab version, because you can carry people and stuff in the back, and also mount a heavy weapon in the pickup,” explains counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen. As Gus Silber noted on Twitter, Al Qaeda would go completely unnoticed in Limpopo.

As it turns out, Al Qaeda appreciates the Hilux for pretty much the same reasons that South Africans do: tough, reliable, high ground clearance, able to carry a sizeable load. So maybe we don’t mount heavy weaponry on the back, but with our crime figures, perhaps some enterprising businessperson could investigate that as an aftermarket option, along with bullbars and power conversions.

South Africans have loved the Hilux for more than 40 years. First arriving on our shores in 1969, it has been a best-seller virtually ever since. Hilux double-cab drivers are curiously tribal. Like drivers of Land Rover Defenders, they acknowledge one another when they encounter others of their kind on the road, and they resolutely despise other bakkie brands.

In 1991 I learned to drive in a single-cab Hilux. (There was no power steering; those were the days.) After years of having experience on the roads, double cabs became a pet hate of mine. Like Khanyi Mbau, double cabs and their drivers feature in all three of my collections of South African insults. Nobody drives up your backside and then overtakes at 160kmh quite like a Hilux Raider.

A former British special forces officer who has seen the Hilux in action in both Iraq and Afghanistan probably sums it up best. “You can’t underestimate the value of having a vehicle that is fast, will never break down, and is strong enough to mount a heavy weapon in the back,” he says. Ja boet, we know.