INTRO: ANNELIESE BURGESS (PRESENTER)
V/O 1 - This is the face of Vanessa Brereton 15 years ago. Seen here with anti-apartheid comrades and friend. But this face was a lie. Vanessa Brereton was in fact an undercover agent for the notorious Eastern Cape Security Police. She was reporting to this man, Colonel Carl Edwards. First he became her lover and then her handler. She said she became a spy for apartheid because she wanted to please him.
Today we meet Lt Brereton again in London where she now lives. She has now confessed to her past as agent RS452. Ashamed and guilty, she says her relationship with Colonel Edwards was central to her decision to become a spy. IN the six years that she rose through the ranks as an agent she reported on her friends and colleagues she betrayed hundreds of activists who trusted her implicintly. All for the love of one man her handler she says.
I'd met him in Dec 84 at a social occasion and became lovers. He mentioned to me in about march that he was looking for an HR lawyer who would have the ability to infiltrate the white left. I was attracted to him from that first meeting. .I just blinded myself to his occupation. And because I was in love with him and spellbound by him I agreed to become an agent.
Karl Edward denies that he ever had a sexual relationship with you
Well I guess he would say that now. But I can assure you we had a relationship for six years. We actually had a very close emotional connection, which continued after I left the Security Branch in 1991. Because he did used to visit me although our relationship had ended, he did used to come and see me. To check that I was all right etc. And I last saw him in April 1995.
He says I knew that Vanessa was in love with me. But there was no intimate relationship. There was no time for a sexual relationship.
My response was that I was in love with him and that there most def was time for a sexual relationship. There were times when he was accompanied by a colleague during our debriefing sessions but we had other meetings where we were alone and there was plenty opportunity. The first safe house were we met was a flat in Humewood and I had a key to flat and I could come and go and we met there often
Karl Edwards was a powerful man, he had the power to detain and torture. What was it like being the lover of such a man?
I suppose it was exiting and thrilling as Mike Louw said in his opening letter to me I must agree with him on that. It was very exiting.
What was it about Karl Edwards that so mesmerized you?
When they say power is an aphrodisiac. And I'm afraid that was true in my case.
If someone else, not Karl Edwards had asked you to become a spy, would you have done it?
No I would not have. I was spellbound by Karl Edwards.. I wanted to carry on my relationship with him. And working in a professional capacity with him meant I would see more of him. And that suited me.
You claim you developed a strong fear of horror of communism at school and that these were feelings Edwards exploited?
Karl persuaded me that SA was under threat from a communist onslaught and because I do have anti-communism beliefs: he reinforced those ideas in my head and made me feel really special that I was doing important work for my country, being patriotic. He constantly reinforced these ideas that I was doing something very, very important
What kind of money were you paid? Was money an issue?
Money was never an issue for me. That was not the reason why I joined. The money initially was not very much. I was initially recruited as a police informer and then I officially joined the security branch a year later.
You say you didn't do it for the money. You did it for the love of Karl Edwards and for the hatred you felt for communism. How much were you paid?
R1000 plus a month. I can't remember the exact amount.
Did the Security Police ever give you money for your practice?
No never. People are always taking paints to make out as if I am a greedy person only interested in money, and furthering my own materialistic aims. It is simply not true, appearance are always not what they seem.
FADE INTO RIOTS AND TOYI TOYI AND COMRADE FUNERALS.
V/O 2 - Appearances were certainly not what they seemed. While Brereton the spy was also working as human rights lawyer. The resistance to apartheid was reaching boiling point in the Eastern Cape. The state of emergency was declared. Torture detentions without trial and the disappearance of activists were common plates. In May 1985 the Pebco 3 were abducted and killed by the police. And Matthews Goniwe and his 3 comrades of Cradok Four were found murdered in their car. They were killed by the security Police. As the EC burned a district surgeon Wendy made headlines when she exposed wide spread torture of the detainees in EC. During all of this Brereton's legal practice was booming as she took on more and more cases. Representing the interests of political detainees, victims of police brutality and hundreds of youth facing criminal charges.
In 1985 the so-called Langa massacre shocked the world. The truth commission heard that up to 43 people died that day, Vanessa Brereton the human rights lawyer was at the scene to take statements, but it was also Vanessa Brereton-the spy's first day of work.
There was that whole dichotomy rising again. I was a lawyer trying to help people and also I realised that doing this work would get me access to the white left, which was the whole purpose of my becoming involved there.
You talk about this double life and about putting things in different compartments. And being able to live between these two worlds. I struggle to understand that because you were not doing a job were you were not exposed to the absolute horror in the Eastern Cape in the 80s'. People were disappearing and people were being tortured. How did you not know?
Something I am still struggling to come to terms with. I just buried this knowledge and perhaps chose to ignore it and I suppose basically I put my own needs above those of other people. I suppose its a very selfish thing to do. I think I chose to ignore the things that are not pleasant.
But how did you deal with that when clients came to you with stories of police brutality. What did you do with that?
That's the whole double existence. When they came to see me I was the lawyer, took their statements . defended them if they'd been accused of murder or something and they'd made a confession that they'd been tortured into making. And I did represent people who were charged with murder who were tortured into confessions and I actually managed to get those people acquitted. So as you can see its very bizarre. I myself am trying to come to terms with it.
OK lets talk about the Security Police in the Eastern Cape at that time. (long pause) They were a particularly nasty bunch as, as was revealed at the TRC. What did you think what did you think for instance happened to the Cradock four?
I had my suspicions that it was the Security Police or the military - someone from the establish. I wasn't sure. I felt very uneasy So uneasy that I never asked Karl Edwards directly. Not that he would have told me anything, but I was scared of the answer he would give me because then I would be placed in a dilemma as I could then not knowingly carry on being as spy and being aware murders being committed for the establishment I was working for
There were other murders at the time that time that you were working for the Security police. The Pebco 3 disappeared shortly after you joined.
I also had my suspicions that it was the Security Police vanishing like that without a trace. Although it was rumoured that they'd left the country, it was highly unlikely. I had a gut feeling but I chose to ignore those feelings.
You attended police braais, went to social occasions. You met people like Gitto Nuwer who was exposed as one of the most brutal security men ever in South Africa. How did you get on with these people?
Gitto Nuwer for an example did strike me as sort of creepy, with cold gray eyes and there was def something below the surface. But he was very charming to me I mean they made a point to be very charming and nice. And I think that was part of the whole psychology of the thing. To insure one with the feeling of being special, you are doing your duty for your country. You're very important.
Where does that come from? That need to be acknowledged? That need to be important you say?
I think it probably arrives from the mild disability I have. I was born with a dislocated hip joint and despite various surgical procedures my one leg is shorter than the other. And I think that led me to have a very low self esteem. SA society is very sexist and female appearance is very important emphasis was placed on appearance and desirability. And I suppose I felt not that desirable because of the problem with my leg and I wanted to do something that would make people take notice of me. And I suppose that's what led me to do that.
Now Edwards says you were an excellent spy. You spied for six years and she provided us with accurate information about the inside ranks and the matters of the ANC. What made you such a good spy?
I suppose I was. I did manage to do the work required of me. To befriend people in the white left, infiltrate, attend meetings and was trusted by them.
But what kind of information was so good. For you to have progressed that fast and to be so trusted by your handler. For him to sing you praises like this today. You must have given good information.
I was also a member of Nadel . And Sweden which I also reported on. It was not so much the nature of the intelligence they required - not so much the quality, but the quantity. Because the SP was so extensive. By having so many informers and spies in located across the country. Some would pick up important information. Others less so. But combined it would help to create a pic for them to work out what their next step should be. So I was a cog in a very big wheel
You talk about it being an extensive network of spies across the country. Did you know of other spies?
Yes I did pick up hints. There were other people in the white left who were spies and who were detained to increase their credibility but I think that they suffered so much while in detention that they left and weren't interested pursuing politics after that.
FADE TO ROAD BLOCK
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: When I first met Vanessa in 1985 it must have been just after the Langa Massacre
UPS JANET CHERRY: And really at that point we were desperate there were so many few people doing human rights work, who were helping with detainees and trying to find people who were missing.
UPS MIKE XEGO: and then the state was not happy, because what would happen then they targeted the leadership. Trying to uncover the connectivity between the leader ship and the national congress undercover. And that was quiet hard it was not easy at all.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: The whole oppression and brutality of the security police and the ordinary police was gaining momentum. I think the government realised that they were under pressure.
UPS JANET CHERRY: And the mid 86 of course the state went on the offensive and declared the general state of emergency and they started rounding everybody up.
UPS MIKE XEGO: then of course there were sheltered methods that were called the helicopter torture and the back torture. Both the two were the hardest that any activist would like to remember, because it took the last drop of your blood to stand up and hide what was not supposed to be given to the police at that time.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: Conditions were harsh and quiet dangerous.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: The cops were continually raiding the townships. Kicking down doors, picking up children, picking up what they regarded as activist and if they couldnt find an activist they took a younger brother. They couldnt find a younger brother they would break up everything in the house.
UPS JANET CHERRY: She was very good and reliable and we thought she was very trustworthy as a trustee. As somebody who could hold things together when many of us as activists were in and out of detention. And we didnt know one day to the next if we would be able to keep things going in the organisation.
AD BREAK
V/O 3 - Today Vanessa Brereton claims she was part of Operation Crocus. A state security plan to infiltrate the white left in Port Elizabeth. In this photo taken in the mid-80s' she is surrounded by the people she was paid to betray. Here are some of them today. And this is the woman her handler was interested in the most. Janet Cherry a Cape Town intellectual who was recruited by the ANC underground in 1982.
The first day as a work of a spy he briefed me before I went to Uitenhage. The left is radicals and liberals. The radicals are devoted are to Communism .liberals being used by Commies. Molly lib, Janet Commie. And said I should try and get in with the Commie grouping but the libs are also useful in that they can help me gain access to the radical groups.
Now what kind of information did you get back?
At that time Janet Cherry had set up the Crisis Centre he wanted to know all about the workings of this info centre.
Did any info that you gave Karl ever lead to people being arrested or detained?
I think Janet C. I think it was information that I supplied that led to her third detention in 1988.
How did it come that you gave information about Valli Moosa and Murphy to the SP
They had been on the run for a while and the SP was keen to detain them and they were going to be staying at D Chetty's house - he was an advocate at the time, he's now a judge - and I used to brief him a lot and he trusted me. And he told me that they were going to be in Malabar - and I conveyed that information and as a direct result of that they were both detained.
UPS JANET CHERRY: There was a lot of fear and a lot of harassment and we knew that we were under surveillance, that there were spies as other forms of surveillance. There were very nasty incidents, cars brakes been tempered with. Cars being burnt out and people being assaulted and threatened and getting threatening phonecalls. There was a friend of ours a journalist who was beaten by men in balaclavas outside her flat.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: Apartheid to me was exactly it felt the same way as you would have been living in Nazi Germany and in PE exactly there was a real sense of that ugly mean sully place. It was a fearful place if you lived in the white areas, there were just a couple of people who stood out as just moral..who feel like that and one would be drawn to and those were the people who were spying on us.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: We knew our phones were tapped, we knew our mail was tempered with both at home and in the office. We knew our cars were interfered with. My house was searched a number of times.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: You must remember that operation Croak was a melivanant mean and intrusive campaign. It wasnt just these soldiers for the NP and the whiteys right campaign. People pits were injured and hurt and killed and hung on their doorsteps. Relationships were interfered with. We were thrown out of our jobs I was thrown out of my job I guess some of our editors were manable than they should have been.
UPS JANET CHERRY: I dont feel she would have given very important information to the police. And I dont know what operation croak was all about and I think Karl Edwards tends to blow up his role. The role of spying on the white community. And there was a handful of activists and there were more spies and genuine activists around.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: And this person was a predator she preyed on the clients. She might think that she did the middle man a favour and some activists might think that way but she was betraying them and preying on them.
UPS JANET CHERRY: I do think though that she had access to sensitive information through her legal work and I think about people who were detained about the crisis center that we ran. It involved young people young congress activists who would come and wanting assistance to leave the country. To get bail money for comrades that were in jail. She would have access to all that information.
I cant understand why the security police would have wanted information on that I mean it would be perfect to have you as a spy and giving information on your clients.
It was as if I was living in a parallel universe. I was a human rights lawyer. I took pride in the work I was doing. And I know most people probably wont believe this when I say that I didn't convey any confidential information on clients' defenses to the SP. In any event that was not something they were interested in. My role as HR lawyer was the perfect cover for the work they wanted me to do.
I mean its obviously a very schizo existence
I did wonder. I mean I once asked Karl Edwards about detainees being tortured and he came up with the story that we don't torture detainees. Its part of a communist conspiracy to discredit the Security Branch who are maintaining law and order and protecting the country from the forces of darkness. And I believed him although subconsciously I knew that couldn't be true. And that reinforced the schizo nature of my existence
UPS MIKE XEGO: Many of us note upon her as our savior as our legal savior because for whatever reason she was so prepared and she would throw almost everything behind us. And the visits she gave us in ST Alberts and other prisons were solid and warm.
UPS MKHUSILE JACK: I thought she was a dedicated concerned human rights lawyer she had all the humble, honest and sort of serious looks and there is no doubt in my mind. We trusted her and I trusted her all those that worked with her trusted her.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: She was betraying them as she was so supposedly was there to represent them. When a lawyer came to see you, oh my god I saw a lawyer or a priest in detention. This was someone from the outside and coming in and they would like they came in like light radiating and like god I have been stuck away and here is this person and I have been through hell.
UPS MIKE XEGO: This disabled lawyer was able soft speaking lawyer. Very very quiet but she was diligent and doing the work. So I trusted her with my life with my blood because there was nothing less and there was nothing more I could have convinced me not to.
UPS MKHUSILE JACK: She saw us bleeding she saw us cry, she saw us looking for help and that help we could only get it from people that we thought were on our side like her. And it was a worst time we trusted her.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: I mean she cant possibly be a human rights lawyer. She can't claim now on any basis that she was a human rights lawyer. Cause a human rights lawyer would not conduct themselves in such a unethical way.
UPS JANET CHERRY: So I can only now assume that she gave information that led to people's arrests.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: The fact that she continued to act as an attorney and withstanding that was aware that she is doing. Indicates that in my mind she is what is termed as not a fit person to be an attorney.
UPS MKHUSILE JACK: Matthew Morobi and Valu Moosa are not white left, these were black comrades and anyway what difference does it make to us. I mean how does she what is she hoping to achieve by saying that. She is a sellout and being a sellout it doesnt matter who you sell. Comrades were comrades and that is it. There were two sides against apartheid there were those that were against it and there were those for it. Therefore you choose.
At what point did you decide you did not want to do this anymore?
It was in 1989 at the time of the Motherwell bombings and when I realised that the SP was extremely ruthless and that they would stop at nothing and would even kill there own kind if their own kind were regarded as disloyal or did things that shouldn't be doing. I did become a bit apprehensive about my own safety and I did not want to carry on doing this. I'd also become very tired of being a tired of being a spy. It was a very stressful, lonely job. Nobody knew. My family didn't know. My friends did not know. And it's a burden I've carried since 1985.
Motherwell was in 1989. You continued being a spy until 1991. Why did you not get out after Motherwell if that was the big
Because I couldn't it was a very difficult position I was in. Because in a way I felt there was no escape. I felt I had to have a reason for leaving. I was worried about what would happen to me if I left. Because I was part of this almost elite club and I was worried about what happened to people who left. And then the ANC was unbanned in Feb 1990 and I saw that this was the way out for me. That things were going to change. I mean many members of the SP were quite despondent when the SP was unbanned cause they realised that they no longer had a function in society, or that their function was coming to an end. They would no longer have the power they had all these years.
You say you haven't told anyone about this for almost 20 years now. Why did you decide to speak out?
I decide to speak out because of the accusations being leveled against BN being agent RS452. I couldn't sit back and let the reputation of an innocent man be besmirched while I was that agent. It was also the right time to speak. I was tired of bearing this burden
Why did you not go to the truth commission, why did all those things not push you to talk?
I'm not sure. At the time of the TRC I did feel I should speak. Something was stopping me. I was concerned about the consequences. I was scared something might happen to me if I spoke out.
You didn't even tell your huSPand? Children.
I was terrified that once I told them what I'd done they'd reject me. That they wouldn't understand that I have two faces. The one as the caring human rights lawyer and the other as the security Branch officer. I was really scared that people would reject me.
You say the one side is a kind and caring person who was a human rights lawyer and you went to visit detainees in prison. What is the other side?
The other side of me is someone who enjoys power. I can be quite ruthless. And I think its just being important really?
UPS MIKE LOEWE : I think Vanessa is a victim of history we shouldnt leap on her the way we are. I mean we are leaping on her because of the fact that she was caught up in this political dilemma. Whole political fights between Ngcuka and Zuma.
UPS JANET CHERRY: You know when she realised in 1989 how bad things were. How bad the police were because they were involved in theft and they were killing their own members at the case of the Motherwell bombs. I simply dont buy it because from 1985 from the Langa Massacre she knew what the SP were involved with. She knew about the torture of the people that she was working in the same building with.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN : I cant accept that she could have been so naïve, so duped to feel like.
UPS JANET CHERRY: So at a point she made a choice if she is going to maintain or sustain this whole undercover activity.
AD BREAK
UPS MIKE XEGO : Funny enough again I wouldnt have a grudge against her for one reason or the other. I wouldnt even hate her I have got no thinking of doing such things in the light of the person she was. It can be difficult to hate her because she is such a sweet woman. She is such a sweet person.
UPS MKHUSELI JACK : There is no way I can spoil my celebration for a united and free South Africa by grudging misguided and dishonest individuals like Vanessa.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: Its difficult to describe her. Its a sick hollow feeling in ones gut I suppose.
UPS MKHUSELI JACK: I was shocked I was disappointed I couldnt believe it I thought it was going to be corrected. I was hoping it would be corrected. I thought its a mistaken identity.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: What she was doing was I think as glen has said she made a business of the trail.
UPS JANET CHERRY: Its easier to come to terms with when it was somebody who was your enemy, than it is when its people you thought were your friends and who betray you in that very personal way.
UPS MIKE XEGO: I mean how do you handle that you are given secrets to somebody who was doing something else its bad. It's quiet shocking to say the least.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: I mean she was the perfect spy there is no doubt in my mind that her absolute dullness, her quietness, her shyness. Her non-response she would just look at you and say yes. I mean its the most amazing story about the spy who did nothing and heard at all. It's quite laughable actually.
UPS MKHUSELI JACK: Very few people and lawyers got the kind of adoration that Vanessa got she was the queen of ST Alberts. All to find out at the end that she was the queen of deception. What a tragedy.
Who do you think you think you betrayed most?
I think probably Janet C. I think it was information that I supplied that led to her third detention in 1988 and then also Murphy Morobi and Mahomed Valley. I supplied information to the police that led to their detention.
What would you like to tell them today?
I can only apologize for the hurt I have caused them. I don't have a right to ask for their forgiveness. I'm even finding it difficult to forgive myself for what I did. I can't make any excuses for what I did either, except to say that I believed the work I was doing was important and this was part of my work. But looking back in retrospect I feel what I was doing was wrong and I can but apologize.
But there where a whole number of black activists. People who really felt the brunt of the SP in the Eastern Cape. Are there any of those comrades you would like to say something to?
I can't think of anyone in particular, but I would like to say to everybody that I feel sorry for what I have done. I know you feel that I betrayed you. However, I was concerned about your welfare. I was one of the few HR lawyers who did go and visit their clients in detention on a regular basis. And I hope that that will in some small measure perhaps help in the healing process. That I didn't do and see you out of ulterior motives. Remember the things I did for you. Letters newspapers.. All those things were done out of genuine concern. Particularly for you families. And I often did arrange financial support for your families as well. I'm not asking for forgiveness, because I don't have the right to ask. That's something you will have to decide.
UPS JANET CHERRY: I am glad she finally gave a smile at the end. she still looks desperately unhappy. I was completely unaware that she was involved in my detention in 1988.
UPS CREW : Yes would you forgive her or not for what she did?
UPS JANET: Yes I would accept her apology I mean this is something new. So I would like to talk to her and hear what information she did pass on.
UPS GRANNY: I know she always wanted to be somebody so I wonder if she has reached the peak of her ambition.
UPS JANET: I do think at the end she was quite sincere what she is saying and she strikes me as unhappy and she says how unhappy she was all those years.
UPS LADY: and the other thing is she didnt confess because she wanted to confess she was forced to confess.
UPS JANET : She has a different hairstyle but she still looks the same.
V/O 1 - This is the face of Vanessa Brereton 15 years ago. Seen here with anti-apartheid comrades and friend. But this face was a lie. Vanessa Brereton was in fact an undercover agent for the notorious Eastern Cape Security Police. She was reporting to this man, Colonel Carl Edwards. First he became her lover and then her handler. She said she became a spy for apartheid because she wanted to please him.
Today we meet Lt Brereton again in London where she now lives. She has now confessed to her past as agent RS452. Ashamed and guilty, she says her relationship with Colonel Edwards was central to her decision to become a spy. IN the six years that she rose through the ranks as an agent she reported on her friends and colleagues she betrayed hundreds of activists who trusted her implicintly. All for the love of one man her handler she says.
I'd met him in Dec 84 at a social occasion and became lovers. He mentioned to me in about march that he was looking for an HR lawyer who would have the ability to infiltrate the white left. I was attracted to him from that first meeting. .I just blinded myself to his occupation. And because I was in love with him and spellbound by him I agreed to become an agent.
Karl Edward denies that he ever had a sexual relationship with you
Well I guess he would say that now. But I can assure you we had a relationship for six years. We actually had a very close emotional connection, which continued after I left the Security Branch in 1991. Because he did used to visit me although our relationship had ended, he did used to come and see me. To check that I was all right etc. And I last saw him in April 1995.
He says I knew that Vanessa was in love with me. But there was no intimate relationship. There was no time for a sexual relationship.
My response was that I was in love with him and that there most def was time for a sexual relationship. There were times when he was accompanied by a colleague during our debriefing sessions but we had other meetings where we were alone and there was plenty opportunity. The first safe house were we met was a flat in Humewood and I had a key to flat and I could come and go and we met there often
Karl Edwards was a powerful man, he had the power to detain and torture. What was it like being the lover of such a man?
I suppose it was exiting and thrilling as Mike Louw said in his opening letter to me I must agree with him on that. It was very exiting.
What was it about Karl Edwards that so mesmerized you?
When they say power is an aphrodisiac. And I'm afraid that was true in my case.
If someone else, not Karl Edwards had asked you to become a spy, would you have done it?
No I would not have. I was spellbound by Karl Edwards.. I wanted to carry on my relationship with him. And working in a professional capacity with him meant I would see more of him. And that suited me.
You claim you developed a strong fear of horror of communism at school and that these were feelings Edwards exploited?
Karl persuaded me that SA was under threat from a communist onslaught and because I do have anti-communism beliefs: he reinforced those ideas in my head and made me feel really special that I was doing important work for my country, being patriotic. He constantly reinforced these ideas that I was doing something very, very important
What kind of money were you paid? Was money an issue?
Money was never an issue for me. That was not the reason why I joined. The money initially was not very much. I was initially recruited as a police informer and then I officially joined the security branch a year later.
You say you didn't do it for the money. You did it for the love of Karl Edwards and for the hatred you felt for communism. How much were you paid?
R1000 plus a month. I can't remember the exact amount.
Did the Security Police ever give you money for your practice?
No never. People are always taking paints to make out as if I am a greedy person only interested in money, and furthering my own materialistic aims. It is simply not true, appearance are always not what they seem.
FADE INTO RIOTS AND TOYI TOYI AND COMRADE FUNERALS.
V/O 2 - Appearances were certainly not what they seemed. While Brereton the spy was also working as human rights lawyer. The resistance to apartheid was reaching boiling point in the Eastern Cape. The state of emergency was declared. Torture detentions without trial and the disappearance of activists were common plates. In May 1985 the Pebco 3 were abducted and killed by the police. And Matthews Goniwe and his 3 comrades of Cradok Four were found murdered in their car. They were killed by the security Police. As the EC burned a district surgeon Wendy made headlines when she exposed wide spread torture of the detainees in EC. During all of this Brereton's legal practice was booming as she took on more and more cases. Representing the interests of political detainees, victims of police brutality and hundreds of youth facing criminal charges.
In 1985 the so-called Langa massacre shocked the world. The truth commission heard that up to 43 people died that day, Vanessa Brereton the human rights lawyer was at the scene to take statements, but it was also Vanessa Brereton-the spy's first day of work.
There was that whole dichotomy rising again. I was a lawyer trying to help people and also I realised that doing this work would get me access to the white left, which was the whole purpose of my becoming involved there.
You talk about this double life and about putting things in different compartments. And being able to live between these two worlds. I struggle to understand that because you were not doing a job were you were not exposed to the absolute horror in the Eastern Cape in the 80s'. People were disappearing and people were being tortured. How did you not know?
Something I am still struggling to come to terms with. I just buried this knowledge and perhaps chose to ignore it and I suppose basically I put my own needs above those of other people. I suppose its a very selfish thing to do. I think I chose to ignore the things that are not pleasant.
But how did you deal with that when clients came to you with stories of police brutality. What did you do with that?
That's the whole double existence. When they came to see me I was the lawyer, took their statements . defended them if they'd been accused of murder or something and they'd made a confession that they'd been tortured into making. And I did represent people who were charged with murder who were tortured into confessions and I actually managed to get those people acquitted. So as you can see its very bizarre. I myself am trying to come to terms with it.
OK lets talk about the Security Police in the Eastern Cape at that time. (long pause) They were a particularly nasty bunch as, as was revealed at the TRC. What did you think what did you think for instance happened to the Cradock four?
I had my suspicions that it was the Security Police or the military - someone from the establish. I wasn't sure. I felt very uneasy So uneasy that I never asked Karl Edwards directly. Not that he would have told me anything, but I was scared of the answer he would give me because then I would be placed in a dilemma as I could then not knowingly carry on being as spy and being aware murders being committed for the establishment I was working for
There were other murders at the time that time that you were working for the Security police. The Pebco 3 disappeared shortly after you joined.
I also had my suspicions that it was the Security Police vanishing like that without a trace. Although it was rumoured that they'd left the country, it was highly unlikely. I had a gut feeling but I chose to ignore those feelings.
You attended police braais, went to social occasions. You met people like Gitto Nuwer who was exposed as one of the most brutal security men ever in South Africa. How did you get on with these people?
Gitto Nuwer for an example did strike me as sort of creepy, with cold gray eyes and there was def something below the surface. But he was very charming to me I mean they made a point to be very charming and nice. And I think that was part of the whole psychology of the thing. To insure one with the feeling of being special, you are doing your duty for your country. You're very important.
Where does that come from? That need to be acknowledged? That need to be important you say?
I think it probably arrives from the mild disability I have. I was born with a dislocated hip joint and despite various surgical procedures my one leg is shorter than the other. And I think that led me to have a very low self esteem. SA society is very sexist and female appearance is very important emphasis was placed on appearance and desirability. And I suppose I felt not that desirable because of the problem with my leg and I wanted to do something that would make people take notice of me. And I suppose that's what led me to do that.
Now Edwards says you were an excellent spy. You spied for six years and she provided us with accurate information about the inside ranks and the matters of the ANC. What made you such a good spy?
I suppose I was. I did manage to do the work required of me. To befriend people in the white left, infiltrate, attend meetings and was trusted by them.
But what kind of information was so good. For you to have progressed that fast and to be so trusted by your handler. For him to sing you praises like this today. You must have given good information.
I was also a member of Nadel . And Sweden which I also reported on. It was not so much the nature of the intelligence they required - not so much the quality, but the quantity. Because the SP was so extensive. By having so many informers and spies in located across the country. Some would pick up important information. Others less so. But combined it would help to create a pic for them to work out what their next step should be. So I was a cog in a very big wheel
You talk about it being an extensive network of spies across the country. Did you know of other spies?
Yes I did pick up hints. There were other people in the white left who were spies and who were detained to increase their credibility but I think that they suffered so much while in detention that they left and weren't interested pursuing politics after that.
FADE TO ROAD BLOCK
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: When I first met Vanessa in 1985 it must have been just after the Langa Massacre
UPS JANET CHERRY: And really at that point we were desperate there were so many few people doing human rights work, who were helping with detainees and trying to find people who were missing.
UPS MIKE XEGO: and then the state was not happy, because what would happen then they targeted the leadership. Trying to uncover the connectivity between the leader ship and the national congress undercover. And that was quiet hard it was not easy at all.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: The whole oppression and brutality of the security police and the ordinary police was gaining momentum. I think the government realised that they were under pressure.
UPS JANET CHERRY: And the mid 86 of course the state went on the offensive and declared the general state of emergency and they started rounding everybody up.
UPS MIKE XEGO: then of course there were sheltered methods that were called the helicopter torture and the back torture. Both the two were the hardest that any activist would like to remember, because it took the last drop of your blood to stand up and hide what was not supposed to be given to the police at that time.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: Conditions were harsh and quiet dangerous.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: The cops were continually raiding the townships. Kicking down doors, picking up children, picking up what they regarded as activist and if they couldnt find an activist they took a younger brother. They couldnt find a younger brother they would break up everything in the house.
UPS JANET CHERRY: She was very good and reliable and we thought she was very trustworthy as a trustee. As somebody who could hold things together when many of us as activists were in and out of detention. And we didnt know one day to the next if we would be able to keep things going in the organisation.
AD BREAK
V/O 3 - Today Vanessa Brereton claims she was part of Operation Crocus. A state security plan to infiltrate the white left in Port Elizabeth. In this photo taken in the mid-80s' she is surrounded by the people she was paid to betray. Here are some of them today. And this is the woman her handler was interested in the most. Janet Cherry a Cape Town intellectual who was recruited by the ANC underground in 1982.
The first day as a work of a spy he briefed me before I went to Uitenhage. The left is radicals and liberals. The radicals are devoted are to Communism .liberals being used by Commies. Molly lib, Janet Commie. And said I should try and get in with the Commie grouping but the libs are also useful in that they can help me gain access to the radical groups.
Now what kind of information did you get back?
At that time Janet Cherry had set up the Crisis Centre he wanted to know all about the workings of this info centre.
Did any info that you gave Karl ever lead to people being arrested or detained?
I think Janet C. I think it was information that I supplied that led to her third detention in 1988.
How did it come that you gave information about Valli Moosa and Murphy to the SP
They had been on the run for a while and the SP was keen to detain them and they were going to be staying at D Chetty's house - he was an advocate at the time, he's now a judge - and I used to brief him a lot and he trusted me. And he told me that they were going to be in Malabar - and I conveyed that information and as a direct result of that they were both detained.
UPS JANET CHERRY: There was a lot of fear and a lot of harassment and we knew that we were under surveillance, that there were spies as other forms of surveillance. There were very nasty incidents, cars brakes been tempered with. Cars being burnt out and people being assaulted and threatened and getting threatening phonecalls. There was a friend of ours a journalist who was beaten by men in balaclavas outside her flat.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: Apartheid to me was exactly it felt the same way as you would have been living in Nazi Germany and in PE exactly there was a real sense of that ugly mean sully place. It was a fearful place if you lived in the white areas, there were just a couple of people who stood out as just moral..who feel like that and one would be drawn to and those were the people who were spying on us.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: We knew our phones were tapped, we knew our mail was tempered with both at home and in the office. We knew our cars were interfered with. My house was searched a number of times.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: You must remember that operation Croak was a melivanant mean and intrusive campaign. It wasnt just these soldiers for the NP and the whiteys right campaign. People pits were injured and hurt and killed and hung on their doorsteps. Relationships were interfered with. We were thrown out of our jobs I was thrown out of my job I guess some of our editors were manable than they should have been.
UPS JANET CHERRY: I dont feel she would have given very important information to the police. And I dont know what operation croak was all about and I think Karl Edwards tends to blow up his role. The role of spying on the white community. And there was a handful of activists and there were more spies and genuine activists around.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: And this person was a predator she preyed on the clients. She might think that she did the middle man a favour and some activists might think that way but she was betraying them and preying on them.
UPS JANET CHERRY: I do think though that she had access to sensitive information through her legal work and I think about people who were detained about the crisis center that we ran. It involved young people young congress activists who would come and wanting assistance to leave the country. To get bail money for comrades that were in jail. She would have access to all that information.
I cant understand why the security police would have wanted information on that I mean it would be perfect to have you as a spy and giving information on your clients.
It was as if I was living in a parallel universe. I was a human rights lawyer. I took pride in the work I was doing. And I know most people probably wont believe this when I say that I didn't convey any confidential information on clients' defenses to the SP. In any event that was not something they were interested in. My role as HR lawyer was the perfect cover for the work they wanted me to do.
I mean its obviously a very schizo existence
I did wonder. I mean I once asked Karl Edwards about detainees being tortured and he came up with the story that we don't torture detainees. Its part of a communist conspiracy to discredit the Security Branch who are maintaining law and order and protecting the country from the forces of darkness. And I believed him although subconsciously I knew that couldn't be true. And that reinforced the schizo nature of my existence
UPS MIKE XEGO: Many of us note upon her as our savior as our legal savior because for whatever reason she was so prepared and she would throw almost everything behind us. And the visits she gave us in ST Alberts and other prisons were solid and warm.
UPS MKHUSILE JACK: I thought she was a dedicated concerned human rights lawyer she had all the humble, honest and sort of serious looks and there is no doubt in my mind. We trusted her and I trusted her all those that worked with her trusted her.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: She was betraying them as she was so supposedly was there to represent them. When a lawyer came to see you, oh my god I saw a lawyer or a priest in detention. This was someone from the outside and coming in and they would like they came in like light radiating and like god I have been stuck away and here is this person and I have been through hell.
UPS MIKE XEGO: This disabled lawyer was able soft speaking lawyer. Very very quiet but she was diligent and doing the work. So I trusted her with my life with my blood because there was nothing less and there was nothing more I could have convinced me not to.
UPS MKHUSILE JACK: She saw us bleeding she saw us cry, she saw us looking for help and that help we could only get it from people that we thought were on our side like her. And it was a worst time we trusted her.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: I mean she cant possibly be a human rights lawyer. She can't claim now on any basis that she was a human rights lawyer. Cause a human rights lawyer would not conduct themselves in such a unethical way.
UPS JANET CHERRY: So I can only now assume that she gave information that led to people's arrests.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: The fact that she continued to act as an attorney and withstanding that was aware that she is doing. Indicates that in my mind she is what is termed as not a fit person to be an attorney.
UPS MKHUSILE JACK: Matthew Morobi and Valu Moosa are not white left, these were black comrades and anyway what difference does it make to us. I mean how does she what is she hoping to achieve by saying that. She is a sellout and being a sellout it doesnt matter who you sell. Comrades were comrades and that is it. There were two sides against apartheid there were those that were against it and there were those for it. Therefore you choose.
At what point did you decide you did not want to do this anymore?
It was in 1989 at the time of the Motherwell bombings and when I realised that the SP was extremely ruthless and that they would stop at nothing and would even kill there own kind if their own kind were regarded as disloyal or did things that shouldn't be doing. I did become a bit apprehensive about my own safety and I did not want to carry on doing this. I'd also become very tired of being a tired of being a spy. It was a very stressful, lonely job. Nobody knew. My family didn't know. My friends did not know. And it's a burden I've carried since 1985.
Motherwell was in 1989. You continued being a spy until 1991. Why did you not get out after Motherwell if that was the big
Because I couldn't it was a very difficult position I was in. Because in a way I felt there was no escape. I felt I had to have a reason for leaving. I was worried about what would happen to me if I left. Because I was part of this almost elite club and I was worried about what happened to people who left. And then the ANC was unbanned in Feb 1990 and I saw that this was the way out for me. That things were going to change. I mean many members of the SP were quite despondent when the SP was unbanned cause they realised that they no longer had a function in society, or that their function was coming to an end. They would no longer have the power they had all these years.
You say you haven't told anyone about this for almost 20 years now. Why did you decide to speak out?
I decide to speak out because of the accusations being leveled against BN being agent RS452. I couldn't sit back and let the reputation of an innocent man be besmirched while I was that agent. It was also the right time to speak. I was tired of bearing this burden
Why did you not go to the truth commission, why did all those things not push you to talk?
I'm not sure. At the time of the TRC I did feel I should speak. Something was stopping me. I was concerned about the consequences. I was scared something might happen to me if I spoke out.
You didn't even tell your huSPand? Children.
I was terrified that once I told them what I'd done they'd reject me. That they wouldn't understand that I have two faces. The one as the caring human rights lawyer and the other as the security Branch officer. I was really scared that people would reject me.
You say the one side is a kind and caring person who was a human rights lawyer and you went to visit detainees in prison. What is the other side?
The other side of me is someone who enjoys power. I can be quite ruthless. And I think its just being important really?
UPS MIKE LOEWE : I think Vanessa is a victim of history we shouldnt leap on her the way we are. I mean we are leaping on her because of the fact that she was caught up in this political dilemma. Whole political fights between Ngcuka and Zuma.
UPS JANET CHERRY: You know when she realised in 1989 how bad things were. How bad the police were because they were involved in theft and they were killing their own members at the case of the Motherwell bombs. I simply dont buy it because from 1985 from the Langa Massacre she knew what the SP were involved with. She knew about the torture of the people that she was working in the same building with.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN : I cant accept that she could have been so naïve, so duped to feel like.
UPS JANET CHERRY: So at a point she made a choice if she is going to maintain or sustain this whole undercover activity.
AD BREAK
UPS MIKE XEGO : Funny enough again I wouldnt have a grudge against her for one reason or the other. I wouldnt even hate her I have got no thinking of doing such things in the light of the person she was. It can be difficult to hate her because she is such a sweet woman. She is such a sweet person.
UPS MKHUSELI JACK : There is no way I can spoil my celebration for a united and free South Africa by grudging misguided and dishonest individuals like Vanessa.
UPS GLEN GOOSEN: Its difficult to describe her. Its a sick hollow feeling in ones gut I suppose.
UPS MKHUSELI JACK: I was shocked I was disappointed I couldnt believe it I thought it was going to be corrected. I was hoping it would be corrected. I thought its a mistaken identity.
UPS JUDY CHALMERS: What she was doing was I think as glen has said she made a business of the trail.
UPS JANET CHERRY: Its easier to come to terms with when it was somebody who was your enemy, than it is when its people you thought were your friends and who betray you in that very personal way.
UPS MIKE XEGO: I mean how do you handle that you are given secrets to somebody who was doing something else its bad. It's quiet shocking to say the least.
UPS MIKE LOEWE: I mean she was the perfect spy there is no doubt in my mind that her absolute dullness, her quietness, her shyness. Her non-response she would just look at you and say yes. I mean its the most amazing story about the spy who did nothing and heard at all. It's quite laughable actually.
UPS MKHUSELI JACK: Very few people and lawyers got the kind of adoration that Vanessa got she was the queen of ST Alberts. All to find out at the end that she was the queen of deception. What a tragedy.
Who do you think you think you betrayed most?
I think probably Janet C. I think it was information that I supplied that led to her third detention in 1988 and then also Murphy Morobi and Mahomed Valley. I supplied information to the police that led to their detention.
What would you like to tell them today?
I can only apologize for the hurt I have caused them. I don't have a right to ask for their forgiveness. I'm even finding it difficult to forgive myself for what I did. I can't make any excuses for what I did either, except to say that I believed the work I was doing was important and this was part of my work. But looking back in retrospect I feel what I was doing was wrong and I can but apologize.
But there where a whole number of black activists. People who really felt the brunt of the SP in the Eastern Cape. Are there any of those comrades you would like to say something to?
I can't think of anyone in particular, but I would like to say to everybody that I feel sorry for what I have done. I know you feel that I betrayed you. However, I was concerned about your welfare. I was one of the few HR lawyers who did go and visit their clients in detention on a regular basis. And I hope that that will in some small measure perhaps help in the healing process. That I didn't do and see you out of ulterior motives. Remember the things I did for you. Letters newspapers.. All those things were done out of genuine concern. Particularly for you families. And I often did arrange financial support for your families as well. I'm not asking for forgiveness, because I don't have the right to ask. That's something you will have to decide.
UPS JANET CHERRY: I am glad she finally gave a smile at the end. she still looks desperately unhappy. I was completely unaware that she was involved in my detention in 1988.
UPS CREW : Yes would you forgive her or not for what she did?
UPS JANET: Yes I would accept her apology I mean this is something new. So I would like to talk to her and hear what information she did pass on.
UPS GRANNY: I know she always wanted to be somebody so I wonder if she has reached the peak of her ambition.
UPS JANET: I do think at the end she was quite sincere what she is saying and she strikes me as unhappy and she says how unhappy she was all those years.
UPS LADY: and the other thing is she didnt confess because she wanted to confess she was forced to confess.
UPS JANET : She has a different hairstyle but she still looks the same.