However, due to the onset of the Angolan civil war following independence, the full master plan for the scheme was not realised by the South African and Portuguese governments.

[2] The area was of considerable strategic importance, providing the pretext for the initial 1975 South African military intervention in the Angolan Civil War when staff at the facility were threatened by guerrillas.

In 1988, during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the Cubans opened a second front against the South Africans and launched a massive ground offensive in the direction of Calueque.

Significantly, one of the last bombs hit the position of South African soldiers nearby who had exited their Buffel troop carrier to watch the events unfold.

The South Africans (SWATF, A Coy, 701Bn) were the last to leave, retreating over the bridge back into SWA on 29 June, after blowing up the ramparts that were built at the dam wall.