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Wally Mbhele
An accomplished military intelligence (MI) agent, Nigel Barnett – who infiltrated Mozambique in 1984 and operated there until his dramatic arrest last year – was granted bail despite documentary proof that he was a spy for apartheid South Africa.
Barnett’s release by Mozambican prosecuting authorities has raised more questions about why Robert McBride – whom South African intelligence agencies are adamant is not a spy – is still languishing behind bars. Barnett is now suspected of having a hand in the intricate setting up of McBride for arrest on March 9.
His undercover activities first came to light when he was a subject of investigation for his alleged role in the assassination of former Swedish prime minister Olaf Palme.
He was recently seen holding talks with Mozambican Attorney General Antonio Namburete and another South African security policeman, Frans “Lappies” Labuschagne – who was also implicated in setting up McBride – sources in Mozambique say.
This meeting took place before Namburete announced that an additional charge of espionage had been laid against McBride.
Namburete’s statement triggered a bitter response from McBride’s Mozambican lawyer, Albano Silva.
For the first time since McBride was arrested, Silva broke his long silence and accused the attorney general of bad faith and a lack of understanding of exactly what constitutes “espionage” in Mozambican law.
Silva’s offices in central Maputo were broken into last week. A copy of City Press newspaper, carrying a front-page story alleging that McBride was in Maputo to investigate Mozambican officials who were allegedly involved in the Machel plane crash, was left on the table. A computer was stolen from the office.
It is suspected that both South African and Mozambican agents were behind the break-in.
Barnett’s real name is Henry Bacon. He is also known as Nicho Esslin and Leon van der Westhuizen. He used the name Nigel Barnett when he infiltrated Mozambique as an undercover agent before acquiring business interests there.
He was arrested in March last year with another South African citizen, Richard Fair, after he burnt Fair’s yacht during a row.
Evidence pointing to his intelligence work was found when the Mozambican police searched his flat.
He was held in prison for about six months, charged with espionage and then released on bail and allowed to remain in Maputo operating his business.
That McBride – whose spying allegations have still not been proved – has not been granted bail, has raised serious questions about whether some Mozambican officials are not part of a third force conspiracy against him.
Apart from Labuschagne, Barnett’s list of friends include the second in command of South Africa’s high commission in Mozambique, Eben van Rensburg.
Although Barnett is no longer in the employ of MI, he was still receiving a salary last year from his handler, HT Pretorius, who is also Vusi Mbatha’s MI handler. Mbatha is a discredited MI agent whom McBride says lured him into a trap in Mozambique.
During a recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission in-camera hearing, Labuschagne blamed MI for setting up McBride in Mozambique. It is not known if Labuschagne named people involved in the plot against McBride.
Barnett’s activities stretch from 1983, when he was recruited by MI. He was placed in a sub-department called the Directorate of Covert Collections (DCC), which collected undercover intelligence.
He also spent time in Swaziland, where he was involved in covert operations against the African National Congress. The Mail & Guardian understands the DCC co-operated with Labuschagne’s hit squad, allegedly responsible for a series of assassinations of ANC officials and members.
In 1984 Barnett was placed as an agent in Mozambique, where he remained until his arrest last year.
One of his tasks in Mozambique was to identify ANC activists as potential targets for assassination. Among other things, he photographed ANC activists, their vehicles and the people with whom they associated.
During his tenure as an MI operative in Mozambique, a former ANC national executive committee member, Albie Sachs, who is now a Constitutional Court judge, lost one of his arms when his car was blown up in Maputo.
One of the people allegedly targeted by Barnett in Maputo was ANC parliamentarian Rob Davies, who was based at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo until 1990, when Barnett claims to have stopped his intelligence work.
There is no conclusive evidence that he was involved in the assassination of Palme, though he became a suspect because he holds a Swedish passport.
Intelligence officials say it is unusual for an “illegal” – someone assuming a false identity for the purposes of settlement and undercover work in a foreign country – to have remained successfully in Mozambique for 13 years.
“If the whole McBride arrest was the work of the third force,” says a source close to the McBride investigation, “it means the Mozambicans were involved in that plot. Why keep McBride in jail and let such an incredible spy survive so easily?”