A Historical Perspective of the Information Scandal
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A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE INFORMATION SCANDAL DISSERTATION by JOSHUA KRUGER HAASBROEK Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MAGISTER ARTIUM in the Faculty of the Humanities (Department of History) at the University of the Free State Bloemfontein Supervisor: Dr J-A. Stemmet Co-Supervisor: Dr M.M. Oelofse Bloemfontein: November 2016 I declare that the dissertation hereby submitted by me for the fulfilment of the Magister Artium degree in the Department of History at the University of the Free State, is my own independent work and has not previously been submitted by me at another university/faculty. I furthermore cede copyright of the dissertation in favour of the University of the Free State. ……………….. J.K. Haasbroek TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................. i-vi 1. PROPAGANDA DEFINED 1.1 PERCEPTIONS ON PROPAGANDA ....................................................................1 1.2 THE THEORY OF PROPAGANDA ......................................................................4 1.3 PROPAGANDA IN THE 20TH CENTURY ..........................................................15 2. SOUTH AFRICA: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, 1950-1970 2.1 SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS .............................................................................22 2.2 THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM .....................................................................28 2.3 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE COLD WAR ..........................................................32 2.4 INTERNATIONAL OPPOSITION .......................................................................36 2.5 SOUTH AFRICA’S EARLY PROPAGANDA EFFORTS .................................39 3. THE NEED FOR A PROPAGANDA WAR: THE ORIGINS 3.1 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE EARLY 1970s .......................................................43 3.2 THE INFO-CAST ..................................................................................................48 3.3 ESCHEL RHOODIE’S APPROACH TO PROPAGANDA .................................53 3.4 THE PRE-INFO PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN .................................................58 3.5 THE MEETING .....................................................................................................69 4. AN ALL-OUT PROPAGANDA WAR 4.1 AFRICAN DÉTENTE AND THE ISRAELI CONNECTION .............................74 4.2 ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ..................................81 4.3 THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION’S INVOLVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA .................................................................................................91 4.4 THE CITIZEN ......................................................................................................101 4.5. THE EUROPEAN FRONT .................................................................................109 i 5. MULDERGATE 5.1 REPORTS AND COMMISSIONS......................................................................118 5.2 INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM .....................................................................121 5.3 POLITICAL SKIRMISHES ................................................................................126 5.4 ‘A BLOODLESS COUP’ ....................................................................................130 5.5. THE MOSTERT AND ERASMUS COMMISSIONS ........................................136 5.6. ESCHEL RHOODIE AS FUGITIVE ..................................................................145 5.7. THE DOWNFALL OF C. MULDER AND B.J. VORSTER..............................152 6. THE CONSEQUENCES 6.1 P.W. BOTHA AS PRIME MINISTER................................................................159 6.2 PIK BOTHA THE NEW INFO-MAN ................................................................164 6.3 THE STATE VERSUS THE PRESS ..................................................................170 7. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................175 SOURCE LIST ...........................................................................................................182 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................208 OPSOMMING.............................................................................................................210 ii LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AAM Anti-Apartheid Movements ANC African National Congress BCM Black Consciousness Movement BOSS Bureau of State Security CFFT Committee for Fairness in Sport CIA Central Intelligence Agency FAA Foreign Affairs Association HNP Herendigde (Reunited) National Party HNP Herstigte (Reconstituted) National Party ISSA Information Services of South Africa MK Umkhonto we Sizwe NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NP National Party OAU Organisation of African Unity PAC Pan Africanist Congress SAAN South African Associated Newspapers SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SACP South African Communist Party SAF South African Foundation SAFF South African Freedom Foundation UN United Nations UP United Party WCC World Council of Churches iii PREFACE The Information Scandal, also known as the Muldergate Scandal, was the result of South Africa’s propaganda war against hostile international opinion. The National Party, (NP) and especially Connie Mulder, Minister of the Department of Information, perceived a growing call from the international sphere to dismantle the white minority regime during the 1960s and 1970s. In an effort to retaliate against anti-apartheid forces, Mulder appointed the ambitious Eschel Rhoodie to spearhead an unorthodox and unconventional propaganda offensive. With support from Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes (B.J.) Vorster, and the Minister of Finance, Nico Diederichs, Mulder and Rhoodie obtained confirmation to fund clandestine propaganda warfare, costing millions of rands. Money required for the execution of programmes was channelled through the Department of Defence. Methods applied for conquering the ‘hearts and minds’ of the international community, involved high-level diplomacy; disseminating deceitful information; bribery; and buying publications, influence, and allies. However, the propaganda campaign of the Department of Information was obstructed by the contrasting views of the liberal English press. In order to counter the English press, the Department of Information devised a plan to establish a pro-government English newspaper called The Citizen. Suspicious journalists from the English press quickly noticed that The Citizen was funded by the taxpayer, and initiated an investigation. By early 1978, numerous commissions and investigations were probing the irregularities in the Department of Information. The leaking of the department’s hidden activities to the public caused uproar among politicians. In September 1978, Vorster resigned as the Prime Minister of South Africa and inner-party politics became turbulent as Mulder and the Minister of Defence, Pieter Willem (P.W.) Botha, contended for the position of the next prime minister. Mulder was hampered by the Department of Information’s irregularities, especially when Vorster confirmed that the department funded The Citizen, resulting in the loss of Mulder to the election. In the aftermath of the caucus elections, the National Party remained silent over the issue of irregularities taking place in the Department of Information. The silence was broken when Judge Anton Mostert and the English press revealed the purposes for which public funds were utilised. Under pressure of scrutiny, P.W. Botha ruled the matter completely sub judice and established a commission of enquiry to investigate the irregularities. The scandal led to the eventual demise of Vorster and Mulder’s political careers. i Previous studies on the Information Scandal focused primarily on the political and journalistic spheres of the scandal. This study attempts to explore the scandal from a new angle by providing a more thorough look at the propaganda projects. The study also examines – with the benefit of hindsight – how secret projects influenced South Africa and the mass audience. Previous studies are mainly outdated or focus on a specific information project. A more notable feature of this master’s dissertation is the battle of a regime to keep itself in power through persuasion and deceit in a changing democratic world. The Information Scandal originated from the perceived threat of a global onslaught, the implementation of unorthodox propaganda to counter the threat, and internal fighting among liberals and conservatives. The main research problem of this dissertation is to view the events of the Information Scandal as they unfolded, and to analyse the accounts of parties involved in the scandal in order to formulate an objective conclusion. Exploring the events and accounts of the scandal, allows this dissertation to answer two main questions. Firstly, the approach applied by the Department of Information, and the impact of the propaganda campaign on its target audience. The research will attempt to reveal if the campaign was initially successful or not. The second question to be addressed by the dissertation is the consequences of the scandal when it met public scrutiny. How did the scandal influence the political sphere of South Africa and the nation’s relationship with the international community? The research methodology focus on the traditional historical narrative approach and a qualitative research methodology