Apartheid secrets in open soon

2003-03-10 09:22

Barnie Louw and Sapa

Cape Town - Intelligence documents from South Africa's apartheid past - which contain clues about several mysteries from the time - may be made public in May for the first time.

Some of the secrets that could be brought into the open concern the Helderberg aircraft disaster, the identity of the person who sold out the African National Congress leadership which led to their arrest on a farm near Rivonia and the assassination of ANC activist Dulcie September in Paris in 1988.

A special committee has been dealing with the classification and declassification of state secrets and has almost completed its work.

The committee, under the leadership of historian Prof Bernard Magubane, diector of the South African Education Trust, was appointed to ensure that the public's right to access to information was not undermined, while protecting sensitive and strategic information on national security.

Intelligence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu warned in June 2002 that the commission would not be able to provide all the answers, as many documents carrying sensitive information were destroyed before the 1994 election.

- Die Burger