Robert McBride was allegedly investigating the highway heists when he was arrested in Mozambique this week. Wally Mbhele and Stefaans Br?mmer report
Robert McBride, who was arrested in Mozambique this week for alleged gunrunning, was apparently on a special undercover mission to investigate supply routes feeding the highway heists.
Senior African National Congress and government sources say McBride, a director in the Department of Foreign Affairs, was recruited into the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) late last year to help unmask the kingpins behind the robberies, which have resulted in losses of more than R100-million.
He is believed to have been on a mission investigating the heist gangs’ supply routes when he was arrested on Monday near the Ressano Garcia border post.
For some time now McBride’s position at foreign affairs, where he was responsible for South-East Asian matters, has been a cover for other activites. Early this year, the department seconded him as its representative to the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (Nicoc), which co-ordinates the country’s intelligence agencies.
McBride’s usefulness to the heist investigation stems from his previous contact, as an ANC operative in the early 1990s, with Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) cadres and ANC self-defence unit members on the East Rand, some of whom are now involved in heist gangs.
He trained self-defence unit members after he was released from prison – where he was facing a death sentence for the 1986 Magoos Bar bombing in Durban. He was released from prison after negotiations began between the National Party government and the ANC.
The country’s intelligence agencies, often accused of being in a state of chaos, have come up with little of substance to establish what lies behind the heists, which have become one of the country’s priority crime problems in recent months. There have been a number of arrests of suspects, including some former MK operatives.
However, the identities of the ringleaders still elude the police and intelligence agencies. The Inkatha Freedom Party and Deputy Minister of Intelligence Joe Nhlanhla have made wild claims of either the third force or the ANC itself being involved, but no hard evidence has emerged.
The arrest of McBride has fed the suspicions of those in the IFP, who have been claiming that the proceeds of the heists have gone into ANC coffers.
Senior ANC sources speculated that McBride’s arrest could have been a set-up. McBride has complained recently of hostility against him by old-guard members of foreign affairs, who dislike him because of the Magoos bombing. McBride is thought to have feared for his life and carried a side-arm to work.
Before he drove to Mozambique, where he allegedly negotiated with a gunrunner linked to the IFP, he is said to have met intelligence operatives in KwaZulu-Natal. The meeting was held to gather more information on the Mozambican gunrunner.
McBride’s wife, human rights lawyer Paula McBride, told the Mail & Guardian that she knew her husband had been involved in a number of investigations since 1993, but that she did not have details.
She said she was very angry at media reports linking him to heists, and that she could also “not imagine” he was involved in supplying arms to Fretilin, the East Timorese independence movement. She and her husband were both close to East Timorese leaders, though, as they feel passionately about the struggle in that country.
She said she would travel to Maputo on Friday in an attempt to see McBride and establish the true facts, and found it “incredible” that South African officials have not had access to her husband, a diplomat in a foreign country.
A foreign affairs official confirmed on Thursday that the Mozambicans had not allowed access to McBride yet – the only brief contact was when South Africa’s high commission in Maputo was asked to identify him after his arrest. The official said the Mozambicans did not respect “constitutional niceties” when it comes to security matters.
McBride travelled on his diplomatic passport. Although his position at foreign affairs was not diplomatic in the strict sense of the word, he was entitled to the passport as a senior member of the department.
The passport gave him no diplomatic immunity in this case, though, as immunity only applies when the passport is used on official diplomatic business.
A foreign affairs official this week questioned McBride’s judgment in using the diplomatic passport to enter Mozambique, saying it makes the bearer “stand out like a red light”.
News reports said McBride tried to flee the scene before his arrest. Mozambican police claim to have caught him red-handed with AK-47 rifles as well as an unspecified amount of United States dollars.
McBride’s friends have pointed out his tendency to be “impatient” and get personally involved in matters when – because of his high profile – he should rather work from behind the scenes. If he was transporting arms on his arrest, it may imply he got involved in a more hands-on way than would have been prudent for an intelligence operative.