South Africa’s most successfull espionage operation: Henning van Aswegen & Peter M. Swanepoel.
Espionage, Intelligence Science, Tradecraft, Intelligence Operations, Counterintelligence, Counterespionage.
The Daisy Spy Ring
Introduction
The Daisy Spy Ring’ is a definitive inside look at the most successful and significant espionage operation conducted by South Africa’s intelligence services. In this original and unique story, intelligence historians Henning van Aswegen and Peter M. Swanepoel provide an in-depth analytical account of a most daring and successful espionage campaign during a time of enormous political changes in South Africa. Operatives in the Dasiy Spy Ring reported on the fierce competition between Moscow and Liberal, Socio-democratic Western governments to “capture the revolution” in South Africa in the tumultuous 1970s-1980 decade. The Daisy Spy Ring was a uniquely successful espionage operation – so secret that most of South Africa’s cabinet ministers, including the State Security Advisory Council, have never heard a word about it. In this year 2025, almost 45 years after the existence of the Daisy Spy Ring, most of its agents, handlers, couriers, support agents and sub-agents remain unidentified.
Deception, Obfuscation & Subterfuge
South African superspies Craig Williamson and Zach Edwards were masters of deception, obfuscation, and subterfuge— those espionage techniques used to mislead an enemy by manipulating, distorting, and falsifying identities and facts. Williamson and Edwards induced South Africa’s liberation movements to act in manners prejudicial to their own interests, thereby neutralising a substantial number of ANC-SACP subversive operations in South Africa [1].
In the late 1970s, conflict and conflict resolution in South Africa’s political system came to a crossroads. The South African government and the liberation movements campaigning for a violent revolution and overthrowing the government were in direct and continuous acrimonious conflict. South Africa waddled knee-deep in an insoluble sclerotic stand-off, in which both sides fought fiercely in a low-intensity civil war, with no prospect of a peaceful political settlement. In this revolutionary and counter-revolutionary context, South Africa’s security services sought constantly to infiltrate the liberation movements and their related organizations, with the aim of obtaining information about their goals, objectives, activities and operations.
One such organization was the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF), funded by the four Scandavian countries [2] and [3]. Another was the International Students’ Conference (ISC) in the Netherlands which served as a counterweight to the International Union of Students (IUS), a Soviet Active Measure. The IUEF was headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,[4] and was one of the financial supporters of the African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party (SACP) and Black Consciousness Movement (BCM).[5] The ban on the ANC-SACP by the government created a political vacuum in South Africa’s liberation culture; a vacuum that was quickly exploited by the BCM and the United Democratic Front (UDF).[6] Foreign organizations, such as the Geneva-based IUEF allocated money to these institutions by funding real and so-called academic scholarships.[7] Against this background, Craig Michael Williamson, a South African police captain and highly-trained spy (Agent RS167), managed to infiltrate the IUEF in Switzerland and eventually became the deputy director of this controversial organisation [8]. Williamson joined and worked for the ANC in 1975, working for the London-based Politico-Military Unit (PMU) under the codename Newman. When Mac Maharaj, who was running the ANC’s Internal Reconstruction and Development Department (IRD) in London inquired about “Newman,” the PMC refused to divulge his real identity because they thought they had a very valuable intelligence agent working for THEM.
“The fact is that whenever anyone reported suspicions about me the London RC brushed over the allegations because I had been working “successfully” for them for years. So ‘need to know’ and the usual paranoia and suspicion in organisation’s like the ANC-SACP, worked in our favour,” recalls Williamson.
The IUEF continued to survive with the help of financial support from Scandinavian countries and established its head office in Switzerland [8]. As part of a top-secret, joint operation between the South African Police (SAP) Security Branch and the Bureau for State Security (BfSS) (and its successor, the National Intelligence Service, NIS), Williamson succeeded in infiltrating the organisation and gathering both tactical and strategic information. This sensitive intelligence operation, Operation Daisy, was launched in great secrecy in the 1970s and continued undetected for eight years. Williamson collected valuable information about the revolutionary threat against South Africa and exposed the funding for resistance movements by the Scandinavian countries, particularly Sweden.[9] Through Williamson’s infiltration of the IUEF, funds were in some cases redirected to the Security Branch, which in turn used the money tactically to the benefit of South Africa’s security forces. Williamson skillfully redirected “liberation” money, earmared for the violent overthrow of the South African government, to fund the intelligence operations against the South African Communist Party. For example, the farm Daisy (West of Pretoria), was purchased with Scandanavian money and used for secret training of Daisy Spy Ring members. [10]
The Superspy
Williamson, a product of the elite school of St John’s College in Johannesburg,[11] joined the SAP during 1968.[12] From 1972 he was directed by his handler, Colonel (later general.) Johann Coetzee, to infiltrate the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS)[13] at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) [14].As a young police officer, Williamson showed all the attributes and qualities that would make him the most successful spy ever produced by South Africa. He was a gifted speaker – approachable, jovial, and in possession of a formidable intellect and memory that enabled him to memorize facts, names and figures effortlessly. Coetzee saw Williamson’s potential as an infiltration agent, and registered him as a student at the Witwatersrand University, with the eventual target the infiltration of the ANC/SACP in London. Williamson had solid credentials as a left-wing student leader and carefully expanded his cover story (legend)[15] to infiltrate the most important intelligence targets of South Africa’s intelligence services.[16] Williamson’s involvement with the ANC-SACP began in 1975 when he met Reginald September and Aziz Pahad in London as Vice President of NUSAS.[17] By this time, Williamson was a full-time employee of NUSAS and traveled regularly to raise funds for this organisation, later prohibited by the South African government because of its support for political violence. At the ANC’s request, Williamson forwarded reports on the political situation and student movement in South Africa to London. He also created an underground network to smuggle ANC-SACP members out of South Africa, usually via Botswana. According to ANC sources, Williamson’s route to Botswana was the safest available option. Cecilia Masondo, wife of Andrew Masondo, was such a high-profile ANC member who was smuggled to Botswana via Operation Daisy’s “underground railroad” [18].
From NUSAS to the IUEF
In 1976, infighting in NUSAS led to the resignation of all executives. Williamson, the caretaker president, left the organization in May of that year, and with the promise of a post at the IUEF (one of NUSAS’ donors) in Geneva, he left South Africa in January 1977 [19]. Williamson was eventually appointed Deputy Director of the IUEF and traveled the world, representing the organisation at conferences, university convocations, and donor meetings. At that time, the organization was under the leadership of Lars-Gunnar Eriksson, a Swedish Social Democrat [20].
Williamson’s successful infiltration of the IUEF in Switzerland came as no surprise. The IUEF was a priority intelligence target of both the Security Police and the NIS, because the IUEF was a donor to various freedom movements worldwide and South Africa in particular, including the ANC-SACP.[21] The British-born NIS (Port Elizabeth) agent, Karl (Zachary) Edwards (Agent R1652), worked in South Africa as Williamson’s contact to ensure that the funds received from donors were distributed inside South Africa. Together, these two spies played a huge role in Operation Daisy and over several years provided information on the ANC- SACP’s activities in Europe and Africa to the Security Branch and the NIS. Williamson obtained information on how the Swedish government financially supported the BCM and the ANC-SACP, and how the underground networks of these liberation movements functioned within South Africa’s national borders.[22] Despite Eriksson having doubts about the ANC-/SACP’s ideological slant (he regarded them as communists) and being more pro-BCM, the IUEF did award student bursaries to ANC students.[23] The BCM was the primary beneficiary of IUEF funds through Harry Nengwekhulu, a representative in Botswana and the first senior BCM member to leave South Africa.
Vladimir Shubin, the Head of the Africa Section of the International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, says that the “IUEF played a very important role, although controversial. For example, it was stated in the press—I do not know if it was correct or not—that there was some secret funding through IUEF to dissidents of ANC, but by and large, it played a very important role. At some stage, the bulk of the Nordic assistance to the liberation movements was going through IUEF and not directly from the governments.”
Clandestine communication methods and courier systems
Williamson ensured that some of the money donated by the Swedish government to the ANC and SACP via the IUEF was used to fund operations and actions against these two organizations. With the help of Johan Coetzee, his handler in South Africa, a whole series of front organizations were established with money that Nordic governments thought they had donated to anti-apartheid movements.[24] The NIS’s supportive role in Operation Daisy was critical and clandestine communication methods were put in place an ingenious handler (here called “Nic”). “Nic” work as a support agent enabled Williamson to carry out his work as a spy efficiently and safely. Nic had personal meetings with Williamson in Europe and used several DLB’s[25] to bring information collected by Williamson back to South Africa [26]. The meetings between “Nic” and Williamson were sensitive and secret and took place in countries around Europe. At this time Zach Edwards acted as Williamson’s support agent, directing and disseminating some of the IUEF’s money in South Africa. As a double agent, Zach Edwards set up front organizations, including the South African News Agency (SANA), with Eric Abrahams in 1975, which recruited journalists for counter-espionage operations against the SACP and ANC. The ANC-SACP Intelligence Division in Lusaka (Zambia)(DIS) and Botswana was partly funded by Daisy’s projects and some of these projects used Edwards’ courier system to communicate with each other. Operation Daisy’s activities covered a wide field, but it was primarily a clandestine money pipeline and courier system.
An identified Daisy operator managed to infiltrate an ANC group in Lesotho of which Phyllis Naidoo,[27] Mathabatha Sexwale and Chris Hani were members, and he and share information with South Africa’s security services. The SAP Security Branch and the NIS shared and used information extracted by Williamson and Edwards to exercise control over the IUEF. Williamson disclosed in his information reports that the IUEF, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Swedish Social Democratic Party, in addition to money to the ANC, sent clandestine funds to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the BCM in South Africa. Among Williamson’s most valuable contacts were the Swedish Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party, Olof Palme, and Bernt Carlsson, Secretary General of the Socialist International (SI), who readily shared information with him.[28] On 23 August 1977 Williamson, Deputy Director of the IUEF, attended the World Conference on Apartheid with Eriksson and Palme in Lagos. Nigeria where he met and held talks with Oliver Tambo, President of the ANC.
Karl Zachary Edwards (left) and Craig Williamson in Genève in 1978.
The Communist Bible
In South Africa, left-wing activists became increasingly suspicious of Edwards, eventually forcing him out of the Environmental Development Agency (EDA). Edwards himself had set up the EDA to address issues in rural areas; it reality it was a successful front organisation of the Bureau for State Security (BfSS). Ewards and Williamson had been on the South African Council of Churches ‘(SARC) list of suspects since 1973, and by the second half of 1979, South African News Association (SANA) journalists had become distrustful of Edwards’ inquiries regarding liberation groups in Botswana.[29]
By late 1978, Edwards and Williamson’s time was running out. In December 1979, a former junior NIS evaluator, Arthur McGiven, emigrated to London, with stolen NIS reports he sold to the media. On January 2 and 6, 1980, the first two articles appeared in the British newspaper The Observer, and although it did not name Williamson by name, Williamson knew that MacGiven was aware of his real identity. Williamson was now convinced that his cover would be blown and that he would be unmasked.[30] Williamson and his handler, Coetzee, devised a plan and made an appointment with Eriksson in Zurich. Eriksson, who, following the Observer reports already suspected that Williamson was a South African spy, agreed to meet the two men on 18 January. According to a report by the IUEF commission investigating the Williamson case in February 1980, Williamson and Eriksson were chatting in Hotel Zürich’s bar. Williamson told Eriksson to his face that he was a member of the South African Police Security Branch.
Revelations that Craig Williamson was involved with the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF) and that he was a South African spy, created a media sensation in South Africa and in London.
After this, Coetzee joined the two men. Coetzee wanted to enter into an agreement with Eriksson to ensure that Williamson would normally continue with his activities, and therefore not discredit him (Eriksson) or the IUEF. Coetzee informed Eriksson that the SB was aware of skeletons in Eriksson’s closet and would expose them if Williamson was unmasked. The effort failed and Eriksson decided to expose Williamson in the British media. The first article in which Williamson was mentioned by name appeared on January 22 in The Daily Telegraph. With this Williamson was exposed as a spy and he returned to South Africa shortly afterwards [31]. Arthur McGiven’s revelations also blew Zach Edwards’ cover, identifying him as a member of the Chief Directorate for Domestic Collection of the NIS in Pretoria. Upon his return to South Africa, Edwards used a NIS safe house in Darrenwood, Randburg to record all the information that he had gathered in Europe and Africa. With the help of two members of the SACP Investigation Unit of the NIS’s Johannesburg regional office, Edwards subsequently recorded all the information he and Williamson had gathered in Europe. The book became a valuable manual for investigations into the underground activities of the ANC- SACP in South Africa and contained in a thick brown cover, with the name “Communist Bible” affixed to it in thick blue pen [32]. During the eight years of Daisy’s existence, Williamson and Edwards managed to identify 411 secret members of the South African Communist Party.
In 1980, after the existence of Operation Daisy came to light, Edwards continued to run several of the IUEF projects right before the nose of the ANC-SACP, until the NIS finally dissolved and closed the projects. The espionage scandal ultimately had disastrous consequences for the IUEF, and Eriksson subsequently resigned in June 1980 [33] The organization’s financial predicament was exacerbated by the espionage revelations when Scandinavian donor countries immediately withdrew their support and funds. The IUEF, once the BCM, ANC and SACP’s gravy train, finally dissolved in early 1981 [34].
Life after Daisy
The declaration of war and violent insurrection issued by the South African Communist Party at a secret meeting in Greenside, Johannesburg on 16 December 1961, unleashed a series of cataclysmic consequences in South Africa that neither the ANC-SACP nor the government could foresee, or accurately predict. From that moment, South Africa was at war with itself as the government established several counter-revolutionary measures to curtail and combat the violence unleashed by the ANC-SACP’s revolutionary war. Operation Daisy and the Daisy Spy Ring were both direct operational consequences as sabotage and a series of bombings engulfed the South African civilian population from 16 December 1961.
After the successful execution and completion of Operation Daisy, Williamson returned to South Africa, where three experienced members of the NIS interviewed him on a farm on Delmas Road near Pretoria. Williamson had an encyclopedic memory and could remember and reproduce almost every detail of the exiled ANC/SACP’s activities. He reported on how the ANC had changed from a principled freedom movement to a self-enriching, corrupt organization that refused to acknowledge the summary executions of its own members in the infamous Quatro camps in Angola. ANC-SACP members used almost all the money they received from supporter groups and organizations to pay themselves huge salaries.
In 1998, Williamson was accused before the Truth and Rehabilitation Commission (TRC) of being responsible for a series of letter bombs, bomb blasts, burglaries, kidnappings, murders and propaganda operations aimed at the ANC-SACP [35]. Williamson said in his statement to the TRC that members of South Africa’s security services were ideologically driven and acted against a revolutionary onslaught that intended to destroy the existing political order in South Africa, ie the state. The only way to do that was to use the same counter-revolutionary tactics as the revolutionary liberation movements [36]. The South African public was in many respects completely unaware of the fierce violent onslaught from foreign ranks and its influence on the normal state of political activity in South Africa. Unfortunately, ignorance diminishes public understanding as to when countermeasures, counter-espionage measures, and strong countermeasures are needed.
Presenting a paper at a National Intelligence Service symposium in Pretoria, entitled ‘The Use of Cover in Secret Operations,’ Williamson said the following: “When survival is important, it is often necessary for a service to resort to secret actions that do not comply with the laws, morality, norms or values which control the public actions of the state. Secrecy, both defensive and offensive, is important. Coverage is used to allow the operatives to execute secret instructions.”
Williamson applied to the TRC for amnesty, which was granted in 1999. He later pursued a political career and was appointed a member of the President’s Council in 1987. After retiring from active political life, Craig Williamson became a successful entrepreneur and businessman.
Operation Daisy and the ANC
In a conversation that took place on 5 August 1980 between SACP leader Joe Slovo and Oliver Tambo, the latter remarked that although there was sometimes a strained relationship between the ANC and the IUEF (because the IUEF donated money to the BCM), the IUEF’s attitude towards the ANC improved when Williamson was there.[37] The ANC wanted the IUEF to consult them first before donating funds to other South African liberation movements, but the Swedes and Eriksson did not want to know anything about it. Tambo argued that it was probably because Williamson, who was the deputy head of the IUEF at the time, wanted to win the ANC’s trust. In his conversation with Slovo on 5 August 1980, Tambo made the statement that the ANC was distrustful of Williamson, but strangely enough, they never conveyed this concern to the IUEF or the Swedish government. Tambo remarked that Williamson found out about the ANC- SACP’s activities in Angola, and exactly where Umkhonto we Sizwe’s (MK) military training camps were [38].
Craig Williamson and Zach Edwards were the most successful members of the Daisy Spy Ring, but they were by no means the only spies. Members of this operation were trusted by the ANC-SACP to such an extent that they used Daisy to distribute pamphlet bombs and propaganda material in South Africa. The commands and materials of these propaganda campaigns came directly from Aziz Pahad,[39] Ronnie Kasrils and Stephanie Kemp.[40] In an interview conducted by Williamson with the Swedish researcher Tor Sellström in 1996, he revealed that the Danish donors – even during a visit to the farm Daisy outside Pretoria – had full confidence in the project. A Danish consultant even lived on the farm for a while. Regarding this, Williamson said: “He was told that this was the secret place we had for training of anti-apartheid activists. They all said: “Oh, wonderful! This is in the heart of apartheid, just twenty kilometres from Pretoria. They have got a farm where they are training the opposition. They believed the romance of the thing.”[41]
Notes written by Joe Slovo following a conversation in Augustus 1980 with Oliver Tambo about Craig Williamson.
The murder of Olof Palme by one of his own countrymen, Stig Engström
Nearly five years after the dissolution of the IUEF, Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme was shot dead on a Stockholm street on 28 February 1986.[42] The Swedish leader was an outspoken liberal politician and, due to his anti-colonial views and criticism of the USA, was particularly unpopular with the right. and conservative Sweden. He was not really loved by members of the Swedish civil service and the Säkerhetspolisen (SÄPO) (the Swedish domestic intelligence service).[43]
The murder of Olaf Palme took place about a week after a damning speech on apartheid in South Africa. In that speech, which was delivered at the Swedish People’s Parliament Against Apartheid, Palme pleaded, among other things, that the United Nations (UN) imposes severe economic sanctions on South Africa and that Sweden must continue its financial support of the ANC.[44] During his two terms as prime minister, Palme received several telephone calls threatening his life, but despite this, he walked around Stockholm without a bodyguard on the night of his murder.[45] One of Palme’s sons, however, claimed years later that the Prime Minister requested the service of a bodyguard for the evening, but was informed that no one was available.[46] Christer Pettersson, a Swedish alcoholic and drug addict, was arrested for Palme’s murder in 1988, convicted and sentenced in 1989, but released five months later on appeal.[47] Although allegations were made in the media after Palme’s assassination, that either Craig Williamson or the South African Security Branch or the South African government were involved, this information could never be confirmed because there was no evidence to back it up. Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock also made allegations in the High Court in Pretoria in 1996 about Williamson’s involvement in the murder, yet could not explain where he received his information from.[48] Subsequent investigations by the Swedish Government Prosecutor’s Office, yielded nothing and the murder investigation was finally and officially closed in June 2020.[49] Subsequently, Swedish prosecutors later revealed that Stig Engström, a graphic designer who was also known as “Skandia Man”, probably shot Palme, but that he could not be prosecuted, as he committed suicide in 2000.[50]
The Daisy Spy Ring in context
According to Williamson, much of his work within the ANC-SACP and the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was aimed at identifying the contradictory approaches and tactics of opponents and trying to exploit those contradictions to South Africa’s advantage. Williamson says that the ANC-SACP’s ability to mobilize international support and public opinion against the government of South Africa, was their strong point. The ANC-SACP had the support of the Warsaw Pact countries and non-aligned countries (mostly Third World countries), as well as anti-apartheid movements in Western countries. This support was mobilized to undermine the government of South Africa politically and economically through sanctions. The main purpose of the anti-apartheid movements was the application of comprehensive economic sanctions against South Africa by the UN. The secondary objective of the ANC-SACP / AAM was to persuade Western countries to accept, support and condone the principle of violence to achieve political objectives. The forerunner of the international struggle against apartheid were Soviet front organizations; the World Peace Council (WPC), with the World Council of Churches (WCC), the IUS, the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization (AAPSO), the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) and several similar anti-apartheid movements.[51] Despite individual organizations and groups within the broad AAM group’s different goals and agendas, they all had one common goal – the overthrow and removal of the South African government.[52] In his report to his spymasters, Williamson argued that the ANC was (and still is) under the “overwhelming influence” of the SACP and that leading SACP members such as Yusuf Dadoo and Joe Slovo completely dominated and manipulated the ANC Revolutionary Council. While black ANC members mostly joined the ANC and SACP, the military wing (MK) of the ANC and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) were run by Indian and White communists [53].The influence of the SACP on the ANC was not welcomed by all ANC members, and in 1959 led to the establishment of the PAC, a militant, anti-communist political party. In 1968, the SACP asserted its authority in the ANC, when their objections to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring in 1968 was ignored. The SACP insisted that its position, that the Soviet action was justified because the “international socialist revolution” was so protected and defended, was correct. Distinguished SACP and ANC members expressed their disgust with the invasion, but their courageous opposition severely harmed and marginalized members of the ANC-SACP community.[54]
The SACP’s influence on the ANC was evident in sensational events in October 1975 when a leading member of the ANC’s Executive Committee, Tennyson Xola (TX) Makiwane, and seven other ANC members (known as the so-called “Gang of Eight”), was expelled from the ANC. This group criticized the ANC and argued, among other things, that the party was dominated by SACP members. They were on open revolt against the SACP dogma in the ANC. During the ANC’s National Conference in Tanzania in 1969, it was decided to allow White and Indian members of the SACP into non-leadership positions of the ANC. Makiwane and his “Gang of 8” disagreed and were in open conflict with the SACP.[55] For his disagreement and alleged disclosure of sensitive information, the “rebel” Makiwane was killed in July 1980 in Umtata by David Simelane, a loyal ANC member.[56] Simelane later applied to the TRC for amnesty for the murder of Makiwane, as well as a number of policemen and askaris.[57]
What did the Daisy Spy Ring achieve?
A member of the NIS’s Chief Directorate Covert Operations noted that although some members involved in Operation Daisy were eventually compromised by Arthur McGiven, the vast majority of members were never identified. This assertion remains true until today. Until the late 1980s, these deep penetrating agents provided useful tactical and strategic information to the SAP Security Branch and to the NIS. Operation Daisy was a successful infiltration effort of the IUEF at the highest level, but not necessarily the top structures of the ANC-SACP. Operation Daisy also had an unexpected international dimension when the IUEF’s South American projects and Costa Rica regional office were used to gather information about left-wing radical revolutionary groups such as the Argentine Montoner group, (Movimiento Peronista Montonero, MPM), the Uruguayan Tupamaros (Movement of National Liberation-Tupamaros, MLN-T) and Nicaraguan Sandinistas (Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN). This intelligence information was shared with the South African intelligence community’s liaison partners. Operation Daisy was certainly one of the biggest and most comprehensive success stories in South Africa’s intelligence history, as this operation illustrated the joint efforts of the United Nations, Western socialist parties and anti-apartheid organizations, as well as the WRC (with their Nordic and Lutheran sponsors), and the ANC-SACP, to get rid of South Africa’s National Party government. It is a misperception that the primary political and economic campaigns against South Africa was mainly a communist onslaught from the Eastern Bloc.
One of the biggest residual successes of Operation Daisy was that two Daisy-embedded agents were later instrumental in the exposure of Operation Vula. Daisy was the most significant joint operation conducted by BfSS (before the DNS and NIS), and the SAP Special Branch. The intention was to infiltrate as many agents as possible into the SACP ranks, using the known KGB approach of sleepers and illegals. Although Major Craig Williamson and Karl Edwards were involved in different elements of Operation Daisy, several Daisy ring members were never identified and some of those agents became highly successful intelligence assets.”
South African Superspy Craig Williamson addressing a sub-committee of the United Nations in 1978
Source references
[1] Deception indicates those measures utilised to mislead the enemy or intelligence target organisation by manipulation, distortion and falsification of the facts, to induce him to react in a manner prejudicial to his own interests.
[2] The IUEF was established in November 1961 following resolutions adopted at the International Student Conference (ISC) in 1960 and earlier. Funding came from, among others, the governments of Norway and Sweden. The IUEF has focused on promoting exchange programs, awarding scholarships and technical assistance to student organizations, and assisting expatriates. The scholarship program eventually became the IUEF’s largest project and by the end of the 1970s, the number of scholarships for expatriates from Africa had increased to 2,000. The IUEF’s first office was in Leiden, the Netherlands, in the same building as the International Student Conference (ISC), and moved to Geneva, Switzerland in 1967 under the leadership of Director Lars-Gunnar Eriksson. (The University of the Witwatersrand, “Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the espionage activities of the South African government in the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF)”, Collection. AD1757, n.d. http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/?inventory_enhanced/U/
Collections&c=193310/R/AD1757-A [28 April 2021]).
[3] The CIA (US foreign intelligence service, is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
[4] The International Union of Students (IUS), had its head office in Prague; and was regarded by the CIA as a communist front organisation.
[5] P.C. Swanepoel, Really inside BOSS: A tale of South Africa’s late intelligence service (And something about the CIA). P 68.
[6] The BCM, which is part of the South African Students’ Organization (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention (BPC), was formally established in 1968 under the leadership of Steve Biko, Mamphele Ramphele and Barney Pityana. BCM followed a philosophy of gaining economic and political power through black consciousness, led by black political groups including SASO, the BPC, University Christian Movement (UCM), Soweto Students’ Representative Council (SSRC), and the Union of Black Journalists (UBJ). According to Emily Böhmer (Left-radical movements in South Africa and Namibia, 1900-1981: A bibliographical and historical study), the BCM is not an organization, but a philosophy honoured by most black political and community organizations. There is no uniform philosophy, but different views and tendencies brought together in a movement.” In 1972, the BPC was established as a wing of the black consciousness movement, while the South African Students’ Movement (SASM) spread the idea of black consciousness to black schools.
[7] The University of Cape Town, J. Slovo, “Note on a conversation with Oliver Tambo.” BC 1081 (P8), Manuscripts and Archives Department, pp. 2-4, University of Cape Town Libraries, 1980. http://disa.ukzn.ac.za/not19800805026021000 [4 May 2021].
[8] Swanepoel, P.C. Really Inside BOSS. P 68.
[9] J. Ancer, Betrayal: The secret lives of apartheid spies. P 95.
[10] SAPA, “Policemen had a dungeon to imprison Slovo, TRC hears”, 22 September 1988. https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1998/9809/s980922b.htm [30 April 2021]; Thomsen, “Apartheid spy breaks his silence.”
[11] Vale, P. “Apartheid spy Williamson’s dark heart exposed”, Mail & Guardian, 23 June 2017. https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-23-00-apartheid-spy-williamsonsdark-heart-exposed/ [3 May 2021].
[12] Genl. Johann Coetzee, former Commissioner of Police (SAP).
[13] The National Union of South African Students was a mainly left-liberal organisation of English-speaking South African students, established in 1924. NUSAS was disbanded in 1991. (See C.E.A. McKay, “A history of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), 1956-1970”).
[14] Ancer, Betrayal, p. 92. Evidence submitted at the TRC showed that SAP-SB and the SSC instructed and approved Operation Daisy. (TRC/Amnesty Committee, “AC/2000/082, Application in terms of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995: Craig Michael Williamson, AM 5181/97 & Roger Howard Leslie Raven, AM 5465/97”, 2000. https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/decisions/2000/ ac20082.htm [3 May 2021]).
[15] Legend is a fictitious background that is false, but supported with documentation, birth certificates, passports, tax numbers etc. Such a ‘backstopped’ identity is built to conceal the true objectives and activities of an intelligence operation or operator (spy), usually over a long period of time.
[16] TRC/Amnesty Committee, “AC/2000/082, Application in terms of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995: Craig Michael Williamson, AM 5181/97 & Roger Howard Leslie Raven, AM 5465/97.”
[17] Reginald September was the ANC’s representative in the UK. From 1978 to 1990 September was a member of the Revolutionary Council in Lusaka, Zambië. (The Presidency, “Reginald (Reggie) September (1923- )”, http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/ national-orders/recipient/reginald-reggie-september-1923 [3 May 2021]). Aziz Pahad left South Africa after the Rivonia-trial for London, UK where he spent most of his time developing the Anti Apartheid Movement. From 1985 to 2007 he was a member of the National Executive Council of the ANC and later deputy minister of Foreign Affairs (1999-2008). (South African Government, “Aziz Gollam Hoosein Pahad”, https://www.gov.za/aboutgovernment/contact-directory/aziz-goolam-hoosein-pahad-mr-0 [3 May 2021]). See T. Bell & D.B. Ntsebeza, Unfinished business: South Africa, apartheid, and truth. P 98.
[18] TRC/Amnesty Committee, “AC/2000/082, Application in terms of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995: Craig Michael Williamson, AM 5181/97 & Roger Howard Leslie Raven, AM 5465/97.”
[19] Bell & Ntsebeza, Unfinished business, pp. 95-97, and Ancer, Betrayal. P 94.
[20] RC/Amnesty Committee, “AC/2000/082, Application in terms of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995: Craig Michael Williamson, AM 5181/97 & Roger Howard Leslie Raven, AM 5465/97”. Also see The Nordic Africa Institute, T. Sellström, “Barney Pityana”, 23 January 1997. html [3 May 2022].
[21] Ancer, Betrayal, p. 93; Vale, “Apartheid spy Williamson’s dark heart exposed.”
[22] University of Cape Town, J. Slovo, “Note on a conversation with Oliver Tambo.”
[23] T. Sellström, Liberation in Southern Africa: Regional and Swedish voices: Interviews from Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the frontline and Sweden, p. 187.
[24] University of Cape Town, J. Slovo, “Note on a conversation with Oliver Tambo”,BC 1081 (P8), Manuscripts and Archives Department, pp. 2-4, University of Cape Town Libraries, 1980. http://disa.ukzn.ac.za/not19800805026021000 [4 May 2021].
[25] See annexure ‘The Language of Spies.’ For a definition of the term ‘dead drop.’
[26] University of Cape Town, J. Slovo. Ibid.
[27] Phyllis Naidoo was an activist member of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and the SACP. See ‘The Presidency,’ “Phillis Naidoo”, n.d. http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/ recipient/phillis-naidoo-1927 [3 May 2021]).
[28] Socialist International (SI) is an international umbrella organisation, established in 1951 with about one hundred and fifty member organisations and groups. See D. Herbstein, White lies: Canon Collins and the secret war against apartheid. P 214.
[29] University of the Witwatersrand, AD1757, A, “Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the espionage activities of the South African government in the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF)”, 1980, pp. 13 & 26-27. http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/?inventory_enhanced/U/ Collections&c=193310/R/AD1757-A [28 April 2021].
[30] See Chapter on McGiven – The Student Spy. Saturday Star, “Comrade unmasked as a super-spy”, 25 March 2017. https://www.pressreader. com/south-Africa/Saturday-star-south-Africa/20170325/281685434673109 [5 May 2021].
[31] The University of the Witwatersrand, “Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the espionage activities of the South African government in the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF)”, pp. 38-39.
[32] Documents compiled by members of the SACP Investigation Section of the NIS Johannesburg Regional Office.
[33] University of the Witwatersrand, “Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the espionage activities of the South African government in the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF).” P 24.
[34] C. Cooper, M. Horrell & SAIRR, SAIRR Survey: Survey of race relations in South Africa, 1981, p. 80.
[35] Craig Williamson speaks to David Beresford, 5 October 1998, pp. 1-3.
[36] Orr. W. From Biko to Basson: Wendy Orr’s search for the soul of South Africa as a commissioner of the TRC. P 105.
[37] Joe Slovo was the first commander of MK, a member of the Central Committee of the SACP, and appointed as Minister of Housing in 1994-1995.
[38] University of Cape Town, J. Slovo, “Notes on a conversation with Oliver Tambo”, BC 1081 (P8), Manuscripts and Archives Department, University of Cape Town
Libraries, 1980. http://disa.ukzn.ac.za/not19800805026021000 [4 May 2021].
[39] Ronnie Kasrils, member of the SACP, was later appointed minister of Water Affairs (1999-2004) and minister of Intelligence (2004-2008).
[40] Stephanie Kemp became a member of the SACP in 1962.
[41] R. Kasrils, ‘Armed and dangerous’: My undercover struggle against apartheid, pp. 101 & 114. See The Nordic Africa Institute, T. Sellström, “Craig Williamson”, 23 April 1996.
https://nai.uu.se/library/resources/liberation-africa/interviews/craig-williamson. html [5 May 2021].
[42] The New York Times, “Swedish prime minister shot dead as he strolls with his wife on main Stockholm street,” 1 March 1986. P 1.
[43] S. Johnson, “Swedes await the answer to the riddle of prime minister Olof Palme’s 1986 murder”, Reuters, 10 June 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-swedencrime-palme-idUSKBN23G383 [5 May 2022].
[44] J. de Villiers, “Explainer: How South Africa became linked to the murder of Sweden’s PM in 1986”, News24, 10 June 2020. https://www.news24.com/news24/ analysis/explainer-how-south-Africa-became-linked-to-the-murder-of-Sweden som-in-1986-20200610 [5 May 2021].
[45] The New York Times, “Swedish prime minister shot dead as he strolls with his wife on a street of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.”
[46] A. Ösgård & W. Westgard-Cruice, “The many assassins of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme”, Jacobin, 18 May 2020. https://www.jacobinmag. com/2020/05/oloOloflPalmesassination-theories-suspects-investigation-sweSweden May 2021].
[47] News24, “Palme assassination still a mystery”, 27 February 2001. https://www.
news24.com/News24/Palme-assassination-still-a-mystery-20010227 [5 May 2022].
[48] De Villiers, “Explainer: How South Africa became linked to the murder of Sweden’s PM in 1986.”
[49] SAPA, “De Kock trail to conclude on Wednesday”, 29 October 1996. https:// www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1996/9610/s961029m.htm [5 May 2021].
[50] BBC News, “Olof Palme murder: Sweden believes it knows who killed PM in
1986”, 10 June 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52991406 [5 May
2020]; The Economist, “Sweden unmasks a prime minister’s assassin”, 11 June 2020. https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/06/11/sweden-unmasks-a-primeministers-assassin [8 March 2021]; J. Henley, “Swedish prosecutors close Olof Palme murder inquiry after 34 years”, The Guardian, 10 June 2020. https://www. theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/10/olof-Palme-murder-Swedish-prosecutors reveal-conclusions [5 May 2021].
[51] US Department of State “Foreign Affairs Note”, April 1985. http:// insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Active%20
Measures%20in%20the%20World%20Peace%20Council%20April%201985.pdf [6 May 2021].
[52] According to Stephen Ellis (External Mission: The ANC in exile, p. 40), the British Anti Apartheid Movement (AAM) was created in April 1960 by the South African communist Vella Pillay gestig. “The SACP leadership had infiltrated and influenced virtually every anti-apartheid body outside the RSA, controlling the Anti-Apartheid Movement.” P 198.
[53] The Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU is the tripartheid alliance partner of the ANC-SACP. See O’Malley Archive, “South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu)”, https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/ omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv03445/04lv03446/05lv03498.htm [6 May 2021]. Until 1969, ANC membership was only available to Black South Africans. (P. Trewhela, “The murder of Tennyson Makiwane”, Politicsweb, 29 September 2008.
https://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/the-murder-of-tennysonmakiwane [6 May 2021]).
[54] R.M. Byrnes & Library of Congress: Federal Research Division, South Africa: A country study. P 282.
[55] L. Scholtz & I. Scholtz, “Die ANC/SAKP en die USSR, Deel 2: Gevallestudies”, LitNet Akademies, 5(2), Oktober 2008, p. 117. https://journals.co.za/doi/ pdf/10.10520/AJA19955928_16 [6 Mei 2021]. See L.J. Moloney, “Die Marxistiese-Leninistiese regsfilosofie, die sosialistiese legaliteitsbeginsel en die verwesenliking van ’n regstaat in Suid-Afrika.” P 333. http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/17495/thesis_moloney_ lj.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [6 May 2021]. See Trewhela, “The murder of Tennyson Makiwane.”
[56] TRC, 1998, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report. Volume 2. P 335.
https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/finalreport/volume2/volume2.pdf [14 May 2021].
[57] Boraine, A. 2000. A Country Unmasked. Oxford University Press, UK. P 133.
h6l47h