One of the first appointees is Dr Isaak de Vries, a political scientist at Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg. De Vries is best known for his evidence as an "expert" state witness in about 20 political trials. At one stage he was regularly called to give evidence about banned organisations and the "revolutionary onslaught". His best-known performance was in the 1985 Pietermaritzburg treason trial of 16 UDF and trade union leaders which collapsed after he was subjected to intensive cross-examination.
Since then he has had a low profile, studying for his PhD and teaching at RAU. And yesterday, the Department of Home Affairs released its promised reading list "on relevant aspects of revolution, communication and social research methodology". Botha promised the list to editors in a recent meeting to assist them in understanding the basis on which he would "scientifically" determine which newspapers are "revolutionary supporting".
The list of 29 books ranges from a 1913 classic, The Psychology of revolution by G Le Bon, to Hannah Arendt's On Revolution, to an article by De Vries himself. Asked to comment on the list yesterday, Professor Herman Giliomee of the University of Cape Town said at first glance it was striking how dated the books were. Professor Alf Stadler of the University of the Witwatersrand said Arendt, who wrote that "Boers" were "natural fascists", was a surprising choice. "Apart from her disparaging description of Afrikaners, she also "had a great admiration for revolutionaries like Rosa Luxembourg and Berton Brecht," he said.
He said that although there were some very good books on the list, "the fact that they go back 30 years to the classics for most of them suggest they are using a reading list from a third-rate library. "It is also noteworthy that some really important contemporary writers are excluded, he said. Other books on the List are P Calvert's Revolution (1956), E Babbie's The practice of social research (1979), H Ekstein's On the etiology of internal war (1970), WJ Goode and PK Matt's Methods in Social Research (1952), MM Hagopian's The phenomenon of revolution (1974), O R Holsti's Content Analysis for the social sciences and humanities (1969) M Rejai's Comparative Study of Revolutionary' strategy (1977), R Taber's' War of the Flea (1966) and three works by T R Gurr.
In an interview yesterday, Stoffel Botha, under whose control the new Directorate: Media Relations falls, repeated his refusal to name the panel of experts who will advise him on the implementation of the regulations. He said it would be "counter-productive" to name the experts and he did not want to subject them to possible harassment. Futhermore, he was not yet certain whom they would be. However, he confirmed that De Vries was among them. Botha has previously said the panel would be made up of experts from various fields, including communications, journalism, psychology and sociology. He asked the press not to picture them as "a faceless mafia".
Speaking from the ministry in Cape Town yesterday, De Vries confirmed he had been appointed on a part-time basis. He believed he was chosen on the basis of his work as a state witness on "revolutionary matters". "My evidence has never been rejected," he said. "Although some newspapers gave me a bad time for the Pietermartizburg trial, that was not the full story. That was one occasion where some people said I looked a fool, but there was more to it."
In one much quoted incident from the trial De Vries made claims about Natal Indian Congress activities during the 1960s. When advocate Ismael Mahomed pointed out it was "a well-known fact" the NIC was dormant during the 1960s,
De Vries said: "I could have answered you now and say no, there was no activity but the point is I don't know and I haven't lied about it. Perhaps they held a samoosa sale to gather some money?"
Mahomed: "Why do you refer to a samoosa sale?"
De Vries: "Well, I mean, I love samoosas and I know the Indian people usually make them …"
Mahomed: "Yes, very well" De Vries' evidence was cut short and 12 of the accused were acquitted shortly afterwards.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
