[A-List] South Africa: secret state

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

During the last year the pages of Monthly Review have been host to an
ongoing debate between John Saul and his critics over the latter's
perception that Saul is being overly harsh upon the ANC. In this connection
this item may be of interest to A-listers, and those with knowledge of these
matters are encouraged to share that knowledge. Private Eye is Britain's
leading satirical and investigative magazine (the former often overshadows
the latter reputation-wise, unfortunately) and each issue features an
anonymously posted update on events in some far flung corner of the
world.These updates, ostensibly written by locals, contain enough
information to be regarded as knowledgeable, although a British agent or
some other outsider could, with sufficient knowledge, adopt the persona of a
local whilst penning their missive. The tone adopted is usually highly
critical of the powers-that-be, and the type of information offered tends to
be deeper than more mainstream reports of political, social and economic
developments. The closing comments re Marxism can be ignored, although they
echo similar allegations made in print elsewhere by R. W. Johnson.


Private Eye
No. 1085, 25 July - 7 August 2003

Letter from South Africa
from Our Own Correspondent

Bizarrely, in the week of George Orwell's centenary, our ever-progressive
ANC government began broadcasting slick TV and radio adverts from the secret
services, boasting how our spooks are working overtime to keep us safe and
happy.

In an echo of the bad old days of BOSS, when Big Brother really was watching
us, it was also discreetly announced that three top apartheid-era spooks had
been signed up to serve the new regime. Neil Barnard and Mike Louw are
former heads of the old National Intelligence Service, while Richard Knollys
"spooked" for the nasty tin-pot Bantustan, Bophutatswana. All three will
"advise" current minister of intelligence Lindiwe Sisulu.

Cynics wonder, however, if this has more to do with keeping us in the dark
than keeping us safe. Barnard had been collaborating on a book, while Louw
had begun to talk to select journalists about the murky past, dropping hints
about hitherto unexposed collaborators with the old regime. Both could
confirm or deny widespread rumours about which of our present "liberation"
leaders, even possibly current ministers, had been suborned. Both have
abruptly gone mum. Spooky, eh?

Simultaneously the government has gone to great lengths to fib about
"missing" documents from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set
up to hear evidence of atrocities under apartheid. It claims it was
conducting an investigation, knowing perfectly well that the 34 boxes of
documents were in the possession, illegally, of Lindiwe Sisulu's National
Intelligence Agency (NIA). Among "sensitive" papers are those relating to
the mysterious 1988 assassination of the ANC representative in Paris, Dulcie
September.

We're often told we now have the most liberal constitution in the world, and
under the access to information act all ministries had till the end of
August to reveal what information they hold. Until, that is, justice
minister Penuell Maduna recently gave Lindiwe Sisulu a reprieve by quietly
gazetting a regulation which exempted the NIA for five years. That may
become permanent. Critics compare this to practices prevalent under our
final old school white president, P. W. Botha.

But then history is being rewritten by the day. The burial of apartheid's
greatest stooge and collaborator (also in the week of Orwell's centenary)
proved the perfect opportunity for revisionist fabrication. Chief Kaizer
Matanzima was the venal, brutal ruler of the Transkei, apartheid's first
Bantustan. Yet Matanzima was accorded an official funeral, attended by
President Thabo Mbeki. In his memorial oration, Mbeki urged us to "take up"
the malevolent dictator's unfinished work -- as tasteful as if, say,
Churchill had honoured Oswald Mosley with state pomp at Westminster Abbey,
acclaiming the old blackshirt to be an anti-Nazi patriot.

Apartheid Kaizer's rehabilitation was on Sunday. That week Mbeki had refused
to meet a delegation of veterans from Umkonto we Sizwe, the former military
wing of the ANC. The ex-combatants wished to present a memorandum, pointing
out that though they'd fought for the liberation of the country, they were
now completely ignored by their own government. Some had even been in exile
with Mbeki. Majestically, the prez declined to receive their memo -- perhaps
because he was too busy practising his new passion. On Saturday, you see,
President Mbeki was due to play in the inaugural round of his Presidential
Golf Classic at the exclusive Woodhill Country Club outside Pretoria.

Mbeki is, of course, a former politburo member of the (long-time Stalinist)
South African Communist Party. So maybe it's easier for him to make such a
volte-face. However, despite being a lapsed Marxist who now plays golf,
Mbeki is sadly too old (61) to qualify for our chic-est new elite, the
"Yummies" (Young Upwardly Mobile Marxists).

So no wonder we need ol'time apartheid spooks to keep a lid on things. As
statistics show, here in South Africa today pets eat better than 20 percent
of the population.