The CIA’s Relationship with Apartheid South Africa | Jerm Warfare

Jerm (0:30)

My name is Jerm, this is Jerm Warfare, the Battle of Ideas. We've never spoken about the CIA's connection to apartheid South Africa. And when I did a little bit of digging, I saw there was a very strong link.

Is that correct?

Jeremy Kuzmarov (0:47)

Absolutely, yeah, it is correct. I think, yeah, you have to look at the larger, you know, it should be noted that the CIA is the instrument of the White House. I mean, they do a lot of the dirty work, so they get the bad reputation. But I mean, they're carrying out a larger policy, and really, they're getting their orders from the White House. And, you know, the White House is beholden to the financial oligarchy in the United States. So they often, and that was the central point of Philip Agee in his book Inside the Company, a CIA Diary, to understand that the CIA, as bad as they are, they're carrying out a larger policy, and they're being given orders, you know, to do certain things, and they do it in their own way. Of course, they do have access to black funds, in part through the theft of Japanese gold. And I have an article coming out about this later this fall, it's drawn from a book by Sterling and Peggy Seagray, who wrote an excellent book on the theft of the Yamashita gold. This was gold that Japan had looted from its colonies prior to World War II. And Edward Lansdale was an OSS operative who tortured a Japanese general and his driver, then disclosed the whereabouts of this gold that the CIA then stole. So that gave them access to this black fund to carry out all these dirty operations.

And there were some rogue elements, I think, that evolved out of that network that started doing some of their own stuff. But largely they are carrying out orders again of Washington and the White House. So if you look at something like South Africa, there's a larger policy at play.

The United States basically moved in to want to replace European colonial powers in the era of decolonization and to access the mineral wealth of Africa. And they did that in a variety of ways throughout the continent. But I think solidifying ties with the South African apartheid government was very crucial in the era of decolonization, 1950s, 1960s, through the 1980s and ultimately the demise of apartheid and we can discuss the arrest of what we know of CIA. One thing we know is how the CIA play the role in the arrest of Nelson Mandela.

Jerm (3:22)

I mean, this is very interesting, Jeremy, because what you find when you look into this is the US government slash CIA basically had one continuous policy, but they changed it on the outside the whole time so that there was a facade. All they were interested in really was the minerals. So they would be opposed to apartheid, they would be in support of apartheid, they would oppose the ANC, they would support the ANC.

Whatever it took to maintain control of the minerals.

Jeremy Kuzmarov (3:56)

Yeah, I would agree with that. I think they collaborate with South African Intelligence Services and military who helped in doing a lot of the dirty work like countries like Angola. The US and CIA were trying to establish some control there, like in Angola after the Portuguese left and with the oil in Angola. And South Africa was spearheading involvement in the dirty war there and support for the UNITA rebels. One book called them Apartheid Contras and opposing the MPLA, which is more leftist group. Although eventually it took power and wanted to establish national control, nationalize the oil. Although when it gained power, ultimately, I think they had been co-opted. And it's very corrupt government currently, still led by the MPLA.

But that was one use of... South Africa had a strong military that could be used for proxy war than controlling other African countries. And then, I mean, South Africa itself is extremely rich in mineral wealth and oil, I believe.

So, they wanted to have a good ally and establish trade framework with South Africa itself, and then use South Africa to help control as much as they could the entire continent.

Jerm (5:24)

So, just building on some of your work, I've got a bit of a summary here. So, speaking of the policy agreements, you had various phases. So, around the 1950s to 1960s, the US had an open friendship built on uranium and military as you just pointed out. Phase two would have been around the 1970s to 80s, which would have been the constructive engagement era. So, a polite cover for joint dirty wars, as you said, in Angola, Namibia, Mozambique. And then phase three would have been post-94, which is the quietest phase.