Apartheid was an evil, corrupt, brutal and oppressive system, designed to deny generations of South Africans their basic human rights in their country of birth, their freedom and opportunities to improve their lives and fulfil their potential. Not only that, it dehumanised and stripped them of their dignity. For the apartheid project to succeed, among many other things, it needed to have a strong propaganda machinery.
While this state-sponsored machinery was brutal and was fully supported by the army, the police, the secret services and aided by heads of state, arms dealers, faith-based organisations and donor organisations and many other such collaborators, on its own it was not enough. This is exactly why the architects of the apartheid project had to come up with a co-ordinated disinformation campaign - as part of the regime's broader psychological warfare strategy. To execute this it enlisted the services of a number of journalists from some of the country's leading media houses, who were recruited and became key players in the project.
Details of this elaborate plan were laid bare this week by Vic McPherson, the former head of the apartheid government's propaganda arm, known to many as StratCom. McPherson revealed how his strategic communications department and the security branch had Winnie Madikizela-Mandela under 24-hour surveillance, monitoring her every move and making her the target of its misinformation campaign. He revealed how the security branch infiltrated the ANC, SACP and the trade unions.
"We had surveillance teams with cameras and tape recorders and so forth. When it came to Winnie Mandela, she was always on the radar. We were aware of her activities, listening to her telephone conversations. We were following her around. She was closely monitored by the security branch," McPherson said.More revelations followed. Paul Erasmus, a security branch operative, dropped another bombshell, claiming that the entire Mandela United Football Club, which provided close-protection services to Madikizela-Mandela in the 1980s at the height of state repression, was used to spy on her. Erasmus also claimed that Stompie Seipei was among those who were recruited to spy on Madikizela-Mandela.
While these revelations are nothing new, it is the claim by McPherson that while heading StratCom he maintained a network of 40 journalists on his payroll which must be taken with a pinch of salt. While it is a well-known fact that there were indeed journalists who worked closely with and aided the apartheid project, we caution against taking to heart and accepting as gospel truth what is revealed by these notorious special branch operatives and apartheid propagandists.
South Africans appear to have forgotten the role McPherson played in the apartheid government's fight against the liberation struggle. He was a propagandist of note, who was once tasked by none other than PW Botha to draw up a psychological warfare strategy. He was the head of StratCom, a division that was specifically tasked to create and carry out disinformation and smear campaigns against those the apartheid government considered its enemies.
In a documentary aired this week, McPherson claimed his brief to the 40 journalists was simple - they had to write malicious and damaging news articles about Madikizela-Mandela and publish them in newspapers and other media platforms. Soon after the airing of the documentary, the rumour mill, as is always the case in South Africa these days, went into overdrive, naming some of the country's respected journalists and editors as having been among those who worked for StratCom. McPherson has promised to release the list. But he has to release more than just a list. Any list of journalists claimed to have been employed to spread propaganda for the apartheid government has to be accompanied by evidence proving that they were indeed in the state's employ...