MAJOOR GE DIEDERICKS EN DIE SAP “SPESIALE STAF” GEDURENDE WO2
ABSTRACT: This article explores the formation, function, and legacy of the South African Police CID Special Staff, a covert political policing unit established in 1939 under the command of Major Gabriel Edward Diedericks, KPM, MVO, during the turbulent years of the Second World War. Operating within a deeply divided South African political landscape, the Special Staff was tasked with investigating political crimes, monitoring subversive activities, and managing intelligence related to wartime threats. Initially known as the Political Staff, the unit evolved into what became colloquially known as the Political Police or Political Detective Service, in later years to be known as the SAP Security Branch.
Major Diedericks, born in 1901 on Middelkraal farm in the Willowmore district, had a distinguished career in the South African Police, including involvement in the suppression of the Bulhoek uprising (1921) and the Rand miners’ strike (1922). By 1939, he was appointed to lead the newly formed Special Staff, later overseeing the Witwatersrand division of the Alien Registration Office. His leadership was marked by professionalism and discretion, even as he faced political discrimination after 1948 due to his wartime role— which had included the internment of future Prime Minister B.J. Vorster.
The article by Dr Heinrich Matthee draws on interviews conducted in 1990 with wartime detectives and officers, including J.M. Visser and Gen. Danie Bester, as well as a rare, recorded conversation with Diedericks himself. Additional archival research in London (2022) provided further insight into colonial policing structures. Brigadier Hennie Heymans contributed photographs and articles from Nongqai, enriching the historical reconstruction.
The CID Special Staff laid the groundwork for South Africa’s later Security Branch, which operated until 1994. This study offers a nuanced view of early political policing in South Africa, highlighting the tensions between loyalty to the British Empire and rising Afrikaner nationalism.
KEYWORDS: South African Police Special Staff; 2nd World War; SAP Security Branch; Dr Heinrich Matthee; Maj Gabriel E Diedericks
LANGUAGE: Afrikaans
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