In fairness, there's something wrong with how the South Africans and Rhodesians saw their conflicts. Even Rhodesia, which was being invaded by a half-dozen countries, embargoed by the west, and had invading Communists supported by the Soviet Union still acted like their Bush War was a policing effort, and not a full-scale war. They never really acted as if it was an existential threat. South Africa didn't seem to consider their conflict a Civil War, nor an insurrection. They also didn't consider the Angolan Civil War, a massive regional war prosecuted against them by Cuba. The Angolan Civil War was basically a War between South Africa and Cuba, that took place in Angola, but no one really treated it like that at the time.

I don't understand it, but no one seems to be being honest about these conflicts, even the ones who should know better.