Bertus Steenkamp, SADF, Disinformation and Propaganda, Misinformation
Discrediting the SADF – Disinformation and Other Lies
An In-depth article by retired Maj.General Bertus Steenkamp.
Propaganda and Disinformation, played a major role in the Cold War and subsequently the Revolutionary War (armed struggle) in Southern Africa. Andrew Christopher (in his book on the KGB) stated clearly that “the key to Soviet influence in Africa during the 1980’s remained the racist government in Pretoria.”[1] According to the USA’s Department of State, the aim of Soviet propaganda was to influence world public opinion against South Africa. This entailed the dissemination of facts, arguments, half-truths and lies.[2] Today we can laugh at some of the propaganda themes, but during South Africa’s violent armed struggle, they were real and tangible. For example, in 1988 it was alleged that the USA manufactured the AIDS virus in a US military facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland.[3]
In accordance with the ANC’s strategy, ‘armed propaganda’ was aimed at the “seizure of power”,[4] and the discreditaton of the security forces. Therefore the SADF was the target for numerous propaganda campaigns.[5] In the eighties it was alleged that South Africa has conducted wide-ranging research into chemical weapons “that affect only black-skinned people”. On 25 May 1984 it was added that this ethnic weapon could kill “an African, or Indian, a Chinese or Arab.” In the same report it was alleged that the SADF was testing the weapon on Namibians.”[6] In 1972 Andreas Shipanga, founder member of SWAPO, brought a TV crew to Namibia/Angola to see a village wiped out by the SADF. Even the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pik Bothe believed him and subsequently had many questions for the military. In his memoirs, Andreas Shipanga acknowledges that this was one of SWAPO’s best scams because it was the remains of the colonial war.[7]
The following are a selection of the perceptions still doing the rounds in South Africa :
Members of the SADF do not support the process of Transformation and Reconciliation. On 30 August 1997, the Infantry Society hosted a Symposium on the SADF and transformation. Serving and retired members of the force attended the Symposium. A motion adopted at its conclusion reads: The symposium express its unequivocal support for the process of reconciliation now taking place in South Africa and which must continue to take place. As in the past, we as former SADF members – shall continue to lend our full co-operation to the creation of a peaceful state for all its inhabitants. However, the symposium expresses its concern and dismay that over the unfair and apparently one-sided process by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[8]
The SADF was the military arm of the Nationalist Party. The SADF, like the UDF before it, never saw itself as the military arm of any political party. This is foreign to South Africa’s military culture and heritage. Since 1912, the UDF/SADF has served under numerous governments of differing persuasions, and, it is the military, more than the political parties, that has survived and continues to serve the country. [9]
The SADF defended Apartheid. The SADF never saw its role as maintaining or defending apartheid. The SADF saw itself as being responsible for the defence of the country and its entire people and saw its role according to the military strategies of the time and in relation to the threat analyses, its responsibilities and its capabilities. More importantly, it was the SADF that warned the political leaders that the solution to the conflict in South Africa was not to be sought through military means, but by political restitution. As early as 1981 the then Chief of the SADF reiterated in a briefing to the Cabinet it was incumbent on them to take the sting out of the revolution. [10] General Malan, the then Minister of Defence, stated in parliament on 17 May 1981, “it is not the task of the South African Defence Force or Armscor to impose a specific political model for the country.”[11]
The SADF was above the Law. At no stage was it the official policy of government that the SADF or its members were above the law. In 1992 Lieutenant-General C.P. van der Westhuizen was accused of ordering the murder of Goniwe and others. This “so-called” order was investigated in the high court in Port Elizabeth for almost one year (1992). During the amnesty process several policemen applied for amnesty for these murders. The military did not attempt a so-called “silent coup’ in order to play the predominant role. The members of the SADF clearly understood that the SADF could only be part of a total solution, and not an end in itself. The SADF did not function in a vacuum, or of its own designs. It operated with adequate direction from the government and Parliament.
The SADF (DI) managed a covert Third Force. There are constant allegations that the SADF was involved in the creation of a sinister and shadowy body, the so-called Third Force. Despite the persistent propaganda to the contrary, no Third Force ever existed. During 1985 the possibility was investigated to establish a Third Force “which task would exclusively be to deal with unrest and counter revolutionary matters.”[12] The matter was discussed but never accepted or implemented. In the early nineties the phrase Third Force was once again created and ascribed to Military Intelligence Division (MID). The so-called Steyn Report further strengthened this perception. Lieutenant-General Steyn was appointed by the then State President, F.W de Klerk in November1992 to investigate the intelligence activities of the SADF.[13] Two days earlier Judge Goldstone (16 Nov 92) raided the offices of a MID covert collection office in Pretoria. He was of the opinion that he found the heart of the Third Force. In December 1992 Steyn briefed the State President orally and stressed it is information and not intelligence (truth, timely told). However in the light of the negotiations with the ANC, Mr De Klerk decided to act decisively and gave instructions that 23 officers should be dismissed. Investigations by the SA Police and Attorney General of the Transvaal found “no evidence, not even a shred that could be accepted in a court of law”[14] Three officers wrote a letter to the State President requesting a Court Martial to clarify the aspects, which they were being accused. This was not done and civil applications were instituted. The cases were settled out of court by payment of relative large sums of money to the applicants. Major-General Chris Thirion was not interested in money and requested a press statement by Mr de Klerk clearing his name and reputation. This was done.
Koevoet was not a part of the SADF. The SA Police established Koevoet in 1979, not the SADF[15].
Maj.Gen JA (Bertus) STEENKAMP
Maj Gen (RTD)
Sources and References
[1] . Andrew, C, & Gordievsky, O.: KGB – The Inside Story, p.530.
[2] . USA Department of State: Contemporary Soviet Propaganda and Disinformation, p.iii.
[3] . Wick, C.Z.: Soviet Active Measures in the Era of Glasnost, p.2.
[4] . Radio Freedom, 2 March 1990; Steenkamp. J.A.: Disinformation – The War of Words, p.23.
[5] . Malan, M.A. de M: My lewe saam met die SA Weermag, p. 187.
[6] . Ibid.
[7] . Shipanga, A: In search of Freedom, pp 95-97. J. Geldenhuys: Die wat Wen – ‘n Generaal se Storie uit ‘n era van oorlog en Vrede, pp.130-137.
[8] . Schalkwyk, P.: Minutes of the Infantry Symposium 30 August 1997, p.85.
[9] Nodal Point of the SANDF: Additional Submission with regard to the SADF, p. 1-22.
[10] Ibid. p.1-23. His actual words were “ om die angel uit die rewolusie te haal”.
[11] . Malan, M.A. de M: Submission to TRC, p.12.
[12] . Ibid., p.51.
[13] . SANDF Nodal Point: Additional Submission to the TRC, p. 6-3.
[14] . Ibid., pp 6-12.
[15] . Steenkamp, W.: South Africa’s Border War, p.208.