Dr Willem Steenkamp, son of former SAP-SB CO Maj-Gen Frans Steenkamp, and himself a former NIS officer who did his doctoral thesis on the intelligence function, as well as being a novelist, ambassador, attorney, entrepreneur and polyglot with wide experience of living abroad, and currently the co-editor and business manager of Nongqai magazine, shares his experiences and insights into South Africa’s transition. He gives his personal view on why and how the political war was lost, despite the “armed struggle” battles having been won, explaining that it had always been a political rather than a military conflict, with the “armed struggle” having been just one part of the propaganda war, which latter the former South African government decisively lost due to poor strategic and policy choices.
NONGQAI magazine special series - the men speak: From Apartheid to Democracy - Personal insights and experiences recounted by Brig (Ret) Fanie Bouwer, who served in the uniformed component of the erstwhile South African Police during the turbulent years of internal political strife prior to the country's transition to a non-racial democracy. He particularly addresses te question of coercive versus innovative police action.
ABSTRACT: Fanie Avenant questions the design of the SAP Medal for Combating Terrorism. The medal appears to be smaller than any other police medals. Mr Avenant was awarded the medal and wondered why it was so small. With careful measu
ntroducing the nature and goals of Nongqai magazine's new series: "the men speak". This will consist of eyewitness recollections and insights of those who served in the security and intelligence spheres during the last decades of white rule in South Africa, recounted to enhance understanding of the realities and motives that contributed to the transition from Apartheid to a non-racial democracy.
Contemporary Police History / Eietydse Polisiegeskiedenis
Nongqai serialisation of our e-Book "The danger of a single story" about the other side of the conflict between the ANC's MK and the S.A. Police SB during the armed struggle in South Africa - PART 1.
Extracts from autobiography of late SA Police Commissioner Johan van der Merwe, with this article covering his personal recollections about South Africa's transition negotiations.
