John 8:32: “The truth shall make you free.”
It is widely recognised that liberation takes many forms and that “freedom” was not finally won with the assumption of power by Nelson Mandela on May 11 last year. The horrendous matric results signpost the long walk to freedom still demanded of millions of our children before they win liberation from Bantu Education. Similarly the homeless and unemployed await their liberation from their heritage of apartheid.
The so-called “spy scandal” which erupted between the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the police force last week points to yet another area where there is desperate need for liberation from the past.
The story which gave rise to the scandal is, on the face of it, a simple one. According to Commissioner George Fivaz, several of his senior commanders reported that they were under surveillance by mysterious agents, and at least two officials discovered evidence that their telephones were being tapped. The commissioner went on to “confirm” that a member of the NIA, the self-confessed state assassin, Dirk Coetzee, had told an investigating officer — interviewing him in connection with the Griffiths Mxenge murder — that he had been instructed by his employers to place the commissioner and other police commanders under surveillance.
The conjunction of these facts by Fivaz — or at least by the newspapers which “broke” the scandal — led to the inevitable conclusion that the NIA was responsible for spying on the police. Various commentators then fulminated about the iniquities of the authorities for hiring a self-confessed killer (Coetzee), and bitter exchanges ensued between the police and the intelligence agency.
Unfortunately, when this scandal broke, a few pertinent facts were omitted from press reports. The first was the necessary reminder that Coetzee was the man who in a very real sense exposed the “third force”, by his initial disclosures as to the existence of police murder squads. Without suggesting that this exculpates him from responsibility for crimes he committed as a state assassin, his courage in making the disclosures can hardly be denied.
His own experiences in the police could have left him in little doubt as to the retribution which his former colleagues would attempt to exact — the anticipation of which was duly rewarded.
Since making his original disclosures, Coetzee has survived at least two assassination attempts, one involving a Walkman with earphones stuffed with explosives sent to him by post (incidentally, but not necessarily insignificantly, an assassination device similar to that used by the Israelis to kill a Palestinian bomb-maker just last week). He also survived attempts to smear him.
Another detail which needs to be added to the “spy scandal” is the fact that the investigating officer who originally made the allegation that Coetzee was engaged in spying on the police was himself a former security branch officer. He apparently interviewed Coetzee on the orders of Major General Karel “Suiker” Brits, former national commander of the country’s notorious murder and robbery squads, who now heads the country’s National Priority Crimes unit.
As reported by this newspaper a few months ago, Brits has distinguished himself in his career by his spectacularly poor record in solving political crimes. One such crime he failed to solve was establishing responsibility for the attempt to kill Coetzee with a Walkman.
No conclusions can be drawn from the above, any more than from the original reports which gave rise to the “spy scandal”. All we are suggesting is that there may be more than meets the eye where this matter is concerned.
The “old guard” in the security services (and we do not exclude some on the ANC’s side) is an albatross around the neck of our brave new society from which we desperately need be liberated. Fortunately a possible instrument of liberation may be in hand, in the form of the truth commission. We would offer to them, as a battle cry, John 8:32.