Stefaans BrUmmer
DEPUTY President FW de Klerk this week distanced=20 himself from post-1990 security force “dirty tricks”=20 operations, while the ANC parliamentary study group on=20 safety and security said denials were to be expected.
The tete-a-tete followed revelations in last week’s=20 Mail & Guardian by former police operative Paul Erasmus=20 of his involvement in the security police Stratcom=20 unit, which ran an anti-liberation forces campaign=20 after 1990, the year Nelson Mandela was released from=20
Stratcom or “strategic communication” was a propaganda=20 and dirty tricks network in the security forces and=20 other state departments, directed by the State Security=20 Council, headed by De Klerk.
The ANC statement after a meeting on Monday said: “The=20 ANC considers Paul Erasmus’ revelation as confirmation=20 of the long-standing accusation of the existence of a=20 third force that operated with the full knowledge of=20 the National Party.”
De Klerk responded on Wednesday that “we are likely to=20 see a great many more ‘revelations’ of the kind that=20 figures like Paul Erasmus has made, during the course=20 of the forthcoming ‘truth and reconciliation’ process.=20 No doubt, every effort will be made in the course of=20 the process to link De Klerk and other leaders of the=20 former government with illegal and unacceptable=20
De Klerk owned up to unconventional tactics in the=20 1980s, but disclaimed responsibility for similar=20 tactics after 1990.
“During the course of the conflict of the 1980s,=20 extraordinary measures were taken by the government=20 against the ANC and other organisations that were=20 involved in terrorist actions against the people of=20 South Africa and the legally constituted and=20 internationally recognised state …=20
‘De Klerk and those involved in the former government=20 accept full responsibility for such actions … They=20 did not include murder or assassination or the kind of=20 criminal activities that organisations such as the=20 Vlakplaas Unit and the CCB are alleged to have=20
De Klerk admitted membership of, and later chairing,=20 the State Security Council, but said “it was not the=20 council’s practice to discuss or consider operational=20 details of the kind disclosed by Erasmus. It was=20 certainly never involved in any decision relating to=20 the criminal activities that the so-called ‘third=20 force’ is alleged to have committed.”