The Bureau for State Security ( af, Buro vir Staatsveiligheid; also known as the Bureau of State Security (BOSS)) was the main South African state
intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objective ...
from 1969 to 1980. A high-budget and secretive institution, it reported directly to the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
on its broad national security mandate. Under this mandate, it was at the centre of the
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
state's domestic intelligence and foreign intelligence activities, including
counterinsurgency efforts both
inside South Africa and in neighbouring countries. Like other appendages of the Apartheid security forces, it has been implicated in human rights violations, political repression, and extra-judicial killings.
For most of its existence, BOSS was headed by General
Hendrik van den Bergh, who, while special Security Adviser to Prime Minister
John Vorster, was instrumental in its establishment. The
Truth and Reconciliation Commission saw BOSS as an artefact of the growing politicisation of the South African intelligence and security services, which had begun to dominate the state apparatus and which in turn had begun to be dominated by Vorster's office.
Even as BOSS cooperated closely with other parts of the intelligence and security services – especially the
South African Defence Force, the
Department of Foreign Affairs, and the
Security Branch of the
South African Police – they were frequently locked in competition over power and resources.
Van den Bergh resigned as Director-General in 1978 in the wake of the
Muldergate scandal
The Muldergate scandal, also known as the Information Scandal or Infogate, was a South African political scandal involving a secret propaganda campaign conducted by the apartheid Department of Information. It centred on revelations about the Depa ...
, and BOSS was renamed the Department of National Security. In the same year, Vorster was replaced by his Defence Minister,
P.W. Botha
Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...
, whose government pursued a protracted restructuring of the intelligence services, culminating in the replacement of the Department with the
National Intelligence Service in 1980.
Background
Though BOSS was not formally established and legislated until May 1969, it is generally understood to have been operating from late 1968.
It replaced the
Republican Intelligence
Republican Intelligence (RI) is a defunct South African intelligence organisation that was established in the early 1960s after South Africa became a republic, albeit, outside the Commonwealth of Nations (from 1961 to 1994) and ties with British i ...
unit of the
Security Branch of the
South African Police.
Under Minister of Justice
John Vorster, Republican Intelligence and the police generally had benefitted from an expansion of their powers, through legislation such as the
Sabotage Act of 1962 and the
General Law Amendment Act of 1963, which allowed
arbitrary arrest and detention. However, in the middle of 1968, the Cabinet approved the creation of a centralised security service. On 28 August 1968,
Hendrik van den Bergh, the head of the Security Branch and Deputy Police Commissioner, was instructed to start planning the new organisation.
On the 1 October, he was promoted to the rank of General and appointed special Security Adviser to Vorster, who had become Prime Minister after the assassination of
Hendrik Verwoerd.
Vorster and van der Bergh were close allies – they were both former members of the pro-Nazi
Ossewabrandwag during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and had been imprisoned for
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
together. Because of this close association, and the extensive powers he had under his advisory role, van der Bergh was seen as "untouchable," which led to tensions within the state that were only exacerbated by the establishment of "super-security" structure BOSS.
![John Vorster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/John_Vorster.jpg)
By March 1969, the skeleton of a new security service began to emerge in the projected expenditures for the 1969–70 financial year. R5.32 million was allocated to the secret services, a 189 percent increase over the previous year, with R4.06 million allocated to the Prime Minister's office for a new security section under van den Bergh.
Minister of the Interior
S.L. Muller described the proposed agency as a coordinating body which would be staffed by experienced security and intelligence personnel from other departments.
The budget of the military intelligence division was concurrently reduced from R830 000 in the previous year to R39 000, which initiated a continuous struggle for power between military intelligence and BOSS which lasted throughout the 1970s.
Formal establishment
On 16 May 1969, ''Government Notice No. 808'' formally established the Bureau for State Security, with retrospective effect from 1 May, as a department of state under the Prime Minister.
Van den Bergh was appointed at its head.
According to the notice, BOSS's functions were:
# to investigate all matters affecting the security of the State, to correlate and evaluate the information collected, and, where necessary, to inform and advise the Government, interested Government departments, and other bodies in regard thereto; and
# to perform such other functions and responsibilities as may be determined from time to time.
In the same period, a series of related legislation was introduced in Parliament: the Public Service Amendment Bill on 13 May; the Security Services Special Account Bill on 19 May; and the General Law Amendment Bill on 4 June. All three bills were passed that winter. The Public Service Amendment Act of 1969 outlined BOSS's structure – significantly, BOSS was established under the direct and exclusive control of the Prime Minister, in contrast to other public bodies, which were partly overseen by the Public Service Commission.
The Security Services Special Account Act of 1969 established a "Special Account" on BOSS's books, which could be expended on confidential items at the Minister's approval and which, unlike other state-funded funded accounts, would not be subject to the annual audit.
Finally, and most controversially, the General Law Amendment Act of 1969 included a provision which authorised the Prime Minister, his nominee, or any Cabinet Minister to veto the provision of any evidence or documents to any court or statutory body, provided the evidence or documents were "prejudicial to the interests of the State or public security."
The Act also made it an offence to disclose any "security matter," including any matter relating to BOSS or any person's relationship to BOSS.
These amendments were met with alarm among liberal and anti-Apartheid civil society groups, with opposition politician
Alex Hepple
Alexander Hepple (28 August 1904 – 16 November 1983) was a trade unionist, politician, anti-apartheid activist and author and was the last leader of the original South African Labour Party.
Hepple was born in La Rochelle, a suburb of Johannesb ...
likening BOSS to the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
.
Potgieter Commission
On 5 September 1969, Vorster formed a commission led by Justice
H.J. Potgieter to establish the guidelines and mission for intelligence gathering by BOSS and military intelligence.
[ The Commission to Inquire into Certain Intelligence Aspects of State Security, known better as the Potgieter Commission, investigated clashes between the two organisations over who had primary responsibility for intelligence gathering in South Africa.][ As van den Bergh was a close ally of Vorster, military intelligence saw it as a foregone conclusion that BOSS would achieve favour.][ The report of the Commission, released on 2 February 1972, led to the enactment on 24 May of the Security Intelligence and State Security Council Act of 1972.] The Act formalised the functions and the brief of BOSS, and also established the State Security Council
The State Security Council (SSC) was formed in South Africa in 1972 to advise the government on the country's national policy and strategy concerning security, its implementation and determining security priorities. Its role changed through the pr ...
, which replaced the Cabinet State Security Committee and became the government's national policy centre for national security.[ The Council was supposed to coordinate information gathered by BOSS and other entities, thus ensuring that none could attempt to dominate the others politically, but this system ultimately failed to reduce the rivalry among different security and intelligence agencies.]
Organisational structure
BOSS reportedly comprised the following departments:[
* Subversion
* Counter-Espionage
* Political and Economic Espionage
* Military Intelligence
* Administration
* National Evaluation, Research and Special Studies
As a department of state, it was headed by a ]Director-General
A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals''
) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...
, who for most of its existence was van den Bergh.
Activities
Other intelligence divisions, including military intelligence and the Security Branch, were required to submit intelligence to BOSS. By the late 1970s, it was thought to employ more than 1 000 agents, many of whom worked undercover.
Internal surveillance
BOSS was involved in gathering and assessing intelligence about anti-Apartheid and liberation movements, including identifying targets for raids, both in South Africa and in neighbouring countries. For example, Charles Sebe
Lt. General Xhanti Charles Sebe was leader of the Ciskei Defence Force- the military of the Bantustan of Ciskei, and its Director of State Security. A former Security Branch policeman, he later joined the South African Bureau of State Security ( ...
, before he became security chief in the Ciskei
Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...
homeland, was a BOSS agent in King William's Town, where BOSS was investigating local chapters of the Black Consciousness Movement. In late 1979 and early 1980, the British '' Observer'' published allegations – substantiated by documents leaked by a former BOSS agent – that BOSS, then known as the Department of National Security, had been intercepting the mail and private telephone calls of prominent politicians and civil society leaders, including Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' and '' Too Late the Phalarope''.
Family
Paton was born in Pietermaritzbu ...
, André Brink
André Philippus Brink (29 May 1935 – 6 February 2015) was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both Afrikaans and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town.
In the 1960s Brink, Ingrid Jonker, Etienne Lerou ...
, and Helen Suzman.
Propaganda
As was revealed in the Information Scandal
The Muldergate scandal, also known as the Information Scandal or Infogate, was a South African political scandal involving a secret propaganda campaign conducted by the apartheid Department of Information. It centred on revelations about the Depa ...
of 1978, BOSS acted as banker for the Department of Information in respect of a secret slush fund
A slush fund is a fund or account that is not properly accounted, such as money used for corrupt or illegal purposes, especially in the political sphere. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitim ...
channelled from the Department of Defence and used to fund a series of propaganda projects, including the establishment of the ''Citizen
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
'', a pro-government newspaper. Some of BOSS's own budget was occasionally used for the same purpose. It is unclear exactly what role BOSS played in the propaganda campaign at the heart of the scandal, but the Department of Information relied on BOSS intelligence. Van den Bergh was certainly closely involved in the planning and implementation of the campaign, and other BOSS officials may also have been.
Z-Squad and alleged extra-judicial killings
At the Erasmus Commission of inquiry following the Muldergate
The Muldergate scandal, also known as the Information Scandal or Infogate, was a South African political scandal involving a secret propaganda campaign conducted by the apartheid Department of Information. It centred on revelations about the Depa ...
scandal, van den Bergh hinted that murder was within the scope of BOSS's duties: "I have enough men to commit murder if I tell them to kill. I don't care who the prey is. These are the type of men I have." Former BOSS agents later claimed that BOSS was involved in extra-judicial killings through a covert operational unit formed in the early 1970s and known as the "Z-Squad." Others confirmed that the Z-Squad existed but denied that it was involved in political killings. The Z-Squad was linked to the 1977 assassination of NP politician Robert Smit
Robert van Schalkwyk Smit was an economist and parliamentary candidate for South Africa's National Party (South Africa), National Party, tipped as a future Minister of Finance. He was murdered, along with his wife Jean-Cora, on 22 November 1977 ...
and his wife; the 1978 assassination of Rick Turner; and the February 1974 cross-border assassinations by letter bombs of anti-Apartheid activists John Dube ('Boy Mvemve') of Umkhonto weSizwe and Onkgopotse Tiro of SASO. It has also been alleged that the Z-Squad specialised in interrogating South Africans who had been captured fighting for nationalist movements in Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
and Mozambique, some of whom were killed after interrogation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) concluded in its final report that BOSS was "possibly" involved in extra-judicial killings, and probably responsible for the murders of Dube and Tiro.
Operations in southern African countries
The TRC heard evidence that BOSS and the South African Defence Force (SADF) jointly led Operation Plathond, under which Zambians were trained for destabilisation operations against the pro-ANC Kaunda Kaunda is an African surname that may refer to the following notable people:
* Betty Kaunda (1928–2012), First Lady of Zambia, wife of Kenneth
* Billy Kaunda, Government minister of Malawi
* John Kaunda, Zambian football goalkeeper
* Kenneth Kau ...
government. The TRC was not able to corroborate the claims and details of the Operation remain opaque. However, close links among BOSS and other intelligence services – especially PIDE of colonial Mozambique and the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation and security police – are well-documented and dated back at least to 1969. The agencies coordinated their counterinsurgency efforts in southern Africa and discussed cooperating on covert operations against Kaunda's government; and BOSS channelled "material support" directly from the South African government to intelligence services in Angola and Mozambique. BOSS may also have had a relationship with the American Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) – van den Bergh received CIA training before BOSS was established.
Demise
In the wake of the Information Scandal
The Muldergate scandal, also known as the Information Scandal or Infogate, was a South African political scandal involving a secret propaganda campaign conducted by the apartheid Department of Information. It centred on revelations about the Depa ...
, which implicated both BOSS and Vorster, van den Bergh resigned in June 1978 and was replaced by Alec van Wyk
Alec or Aleck is a Scottish form of the given name Alex. It may be a diminutive of the name Alexander or a given name in its own right. Notable people with the name include:
People
*Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat
* Alec Acton (1938†...
as acting Director-General. On 1 September 1978, BOSS was renamed the Department of National Security (DONS).
On 20 September, Vorster resigned and was replaced by his Defence Minister, P.W. Botha
Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...
. Botha's ascension increased the influence of SADF and especially of military intelligence. According to the TRC, the dominance of BOSS and the Security Branch had already began to wane in the late 1970s, amid what was later described as "years of illegality, financial abuse and political meddling" at BOSS/DONS. Botha brought BOSS under tighter executive control. He also appointed Kobie Coetsee
Hendrik Jacobus Coetsee (19 April 1931 – 29 July 2000), known as Kobie Coetsee, was a South African lawyer, National Party politician and administrator as well as a negotiator during the country's transition to universal democracy.
Biograph ...
, Deputy Defence and Intelligence Minister, to lead a commission of inquiry into intelligence gathering in South Africa and in particular into the question of who would be the lead agency. At the same time, the Erasmus Commission was investigating the Information Scandal. Believing that the outcome of neither inquiry would be to the advantage of BOSS/DONS, officials began to shred any documentation that could be used against them.
In November 1979, Botha appointed Niel Barnard
Lukas Daniel Barnard (born 1949), known as Niël Barnard, is a former head of South Africa's National Intelligence Service and was notable for his behind-the-scenes role in preparing former president Nelson Mandela and former South African pres ...
to BOSS/DONS, with a view to having Barnard lead its transformation. Barnard was promoted to Director-General in February 1980, and, at the same time, Botha announced that BOSS/DONS would become the National Intelligence Service. In this new iteration, BOSS/DONS was restructured to focus on research and analysis, with its covert operational functions transferred to the Security Branch.
References
Further reading
*
*
* Swanepoel, Petrus Cornelius (2007).
Really Inside BOSS: A Tale of South Africa's Late Intelligence Service (and Something about the CIA)
'. Piet Swanepoel. .
*
External links
Hendrik van den Bergh denies allegations against BOSS
(Associated Press, 2 July 1979)
{{DEFAULTSORT:South African Bureau Of State Security
Apartheid government
Secret police
Defunct organisations based in South Africa
Organisations associated with apartheid
Defunct South African intelligence agencies
Defunct law enforcement agencies of South Africa
1969 establishments in South Africa
1980 disestablishments in South Africa