There is a major dimension to the problem of the relation between the ANC in government and crime in South Africa that is not addressed in Alec Hogg's Open Letter to JZ (see here).

It is this: the ANC in exile in south-central Africa in the decades up to 1990 obliterated the distinction between crime and politics, as a means of funding its own political and military operations. It is probable that this practice and this mindset continued after 1994 once ANC cadres from the exile became members of the new government and administration in South Africa. A new Truth Commission is needed in South Africa to establish full disclosure about the criminal networks operated by the ANC in exile connecting South Africa and such states as Angola, Zambia and Tanzania, and the likely persistence of these networks and practices once the ANC constituted itself as the party of government in South Africa in 1994.

In his historical biography Young Stalin (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2007), Simon Sebag Montefiore has established a very full account of the role of Joseph Stalin in criminal operations in the Russian empire prior to the First World War, conducted as a means of funding the Bolshevik Party. The ANC in exile similarly regarded criminal operations directed in and towards South Africa as a legitimate means of revolutionary "expropriations" to fund its insurgent and diplomatic campaign.

An indication of the nature of these operations has been provided by the former head of Customs and Excise at Harare Airport, John Vincent Austin, who was detained without trial for two years with his professional colleague Neil Harper in prisons in Zimbabwe between 1986 and 1988, under orders of the then Minister of State Security, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Austin and Harper were detained without due process, and were then retired with a worthless pension, because they had been too honest and professional in their posts, given the criminal networks feeding both opposition nationalist liberation movements and these same movements once ensconced in government.

In response to an article on Politicsweb by James Myburgh headed "Why does Mbeki back Mugabe?", Austin added the following Comment on 5th May this year:

HINT: Follow the criminal cartel money trails spawned from the various regional liberation struggles, identify the regional Comrade Godfather, and then you might identify more clearly the "known unknown". And if you dare to do so, you could well be labelled a racist or a neo-colonialist or a spy, for your trouble. In my and Neil Harper's case we were wrongly labelled South African spies for getting in the way of Zanu PF and the South African liberation movements' lucrative luxury car theft and Mandrax smuggling operations in the early 1980s, involving BMWs.

Austin added in this Comment that he had been an "ex-Chikurubi detainee". He explained this more fully in a letter to the online website Zimbabwe Situation (www.zimbabwesituation.com), posted in December 2002 from his present home in Britain. His letter at that time read as follows:

Who said crime does not pay?

IN the Zimbabwe of today crime certainly pays, from the godfatherhood of Robert Gabriel Mugabe downwards. The government of Zimbabwe of current times has long ago evolved into a fully-fledged state-monopolised, sponsored and controlled criminal syndicate. There is no-one outside Zimbabwe who believes otherwise.

Born and educated in Harare, I started work in Customs and Excise in 1966. In those days, "civil servants served the government of the day" and this was rightly drilled into me, I believe. Active participation in politics was out, I was told, although party membership (but only that) was okay.

Fair dos - for in a real democracy, the government of the day might change but its servants should not (certainly not on political whim alone). So I was always safe, I believed, provided I just did my job honestly, effectively, and without fear or favour. Indeed, when Neil Harper and I were first detained, the slogan "without fear or favour" was slogan of the month.

And so, I carved a successful career in Customs and Excise. I served and survived various "governments of the day" from 1966 to 1988. The politics of some I agreed with, the politics of others I did not and, in the process, my very own political persuasions changed, grew and evolved markedly. Through it all, I remained a loyal Zimbabwean and an "effective" customs officer.

Indeed, our effectiveness against Mandrax smuggling into South Africa (via Harare) in industrial quantities, the smuggling of luxury cars north of the Limpopo (Mercedes and BMWs) on a commercial scale and other South African international commercial sanctions-busting scams, involving the connivance and profit of Central Intelligence Organisation [Zimbawean secret police - ed] and Zanu PF in Harare, were certainly less than helpful to the criminal minds of the new order. Historical cases record clearly that we (Zimbabwean customs officers, Harper and Austin) were too effective for the likes of Zanu PF, the CIO and the Pan Africanist Congress [of South Africa , then in exile and allied to Zanu PF - ed] at that time.

And so it was that a cabinet decision (which included the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe) was taken to neutralise "for good" myself and Neil Harper (a colleague of equal, if not greater, ability and loyalty). The rest, as they say, is history. We were labelled "South African spies" and detained without trial for two years - mostly in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, Greendale, Harare (1986-1988).

However, to this day, I continue to invite Emmerson Mnangagwa [Minister of State Security from 1982 to 1988, now Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenites and described as the "richest politicain" in Zimbabwe - ed] to reveal to the media the so-called "secret document" which he hid to cause our detention without trial for two years. For if Mnangagwa is now a serious pretender to the throne in Zimbabwe , surely the nation should now know about such stuff. I and Harper know that we were never spies for South Africa or anyone else. So, come on Emmerson, let's hear the truth!

From one perspective, I am able to regard this as "water under the bridge" now but only because I have been able to re-establish my family again elsewhere and mostly, but not completely, recover from the indescribable damage that the current Zanu PF regime has deliberately and criminally visited upon me and my family. Nevertheless, what is going on in Zimbabwe is not only wrong - it is insane and evil, even though I have been fortunate enough to have escaped the worst of it.

I and Neil Harper were clearly "forced" into early retirement (grudgingly granted by President Mugabe himself to us some eight months after we were released from Chikurubi). Not an index-linked "abolition" pension (which was clearly appropriate - and not awarded), but a belated and presidentially back-dated voluntary early retirement Lancaster House pension. Neil and I retired as assistant controllers in customs and excise. I think that they now call them directors. Anyway, the equivalent civil service open field grade is under secretary.

Given the background, and in my case 22 years service (the last two in Chikurubi) and in Neil Harper's case about 28 years service, why do I still "benefit?" from a Zimbabwe pension "fixed" shortly after my time of release from Chikurubi in 1988 at $489,70? I have watched this "fixed" pension shrink from around £160 in 1988 to around £6 when I last received a very belated cheque for my June 2002 pension three months ago. [It is thin air, today. - ed] And yet, I watch amazed as I read reports of the rank-and-file of the "war vets" and "green bombers" and others receive Zim dollar salaries and allowances that, if I were to have my pension re-assessed thereon, would greatly enhance my own pension.

I was a senior, effective and productive former civil servant of Zimbabwe - bludgeoned out of office. No nation can keep on rewarding evil forever and get away with it. Things have got to change, whether Zanu PF likes it or not. I do believe that sooner, rather than later, the scales will bounce. Meanwhile, I suspect my £6 odd pension arrears from July 2002 onwards are history. Indeed, when the real exchange rate is one-day applied to my pension entitlement arrears, I suspect that the envelope and postage will be worth more than the cheque within.

Not bad for twenty two years of loyal, honest, effective and non-partisan service? A career that started at age 17 and was deliberately curtailed by criminals in the highest offices of Zimbabwe 22 years later when I was 39. A process which dragged my wife Joleen and my three young children (Sally in nappies) through the corridors of Harare Central cells, Hatfield cells, St Mary's cells, Goromonzi CIO interrogation centre, Rotten Row holding cells, Harare Central Remand and Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. Not bad for a dedicated Zimbo who always and loyally served his country well, and still does so.

Looking forward to a decent and proper pension, one day perhaps after long and loyal and unblemished service? Perhaps not, but I will always look forward to the day when pensions are at least curtailed for all of those who have pillaged and raped our nation with impunity.

Meanwhile, I watch with interest the current civil/military class of owners of 4x4 twin-cabs and/or Kompressors. One day, soon I hope, real and transparent justice will prevail in Zimbabwe. I hope they are extending the halls of Chikurubi Maximum in readiness for that day.

Pamberi... but until that day, aluta continua!

John Vincent Austin
Former head: Harare,
Customs and Excise.

Austin provided further information about the criminal character of the Zimbabwe regime in a subsequent letter, published on the Zimbabwe Situation website in October 2004. It reads:

They are stealing the nation's resources

THE recently published "bribes" for ex-combatants prior to the forthcoming election in Zimbabwe, was very interesting - breathtaking in fact. When will Zimbabweans put a blunt and democratic stop to this madness?

I was born in Harare on February 17 1949 at Lady Chancellor (now Mbuya Nehanda Hospital ), as were each of my three children - one in Rhodesia , one in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, and one in Zimbabwe . All of my kids consider themselves to be "born free" - even if they are "white" Zimbabweans. Now we are all in forced exile in the UK.

To see how the former guerrillas are permitted to continue manipulating Zanu PF and, through its criminal structure, continue stealing Zimbabwe 's diminishing resources, is worse than scandalous. What is happening is being watched. There will be a day of reckoning eventually! These tsotsis who see themselves as above the law now will one day find themselves very much dealt with by it. That goes for the top hierarchy too.

The former guerrillas should have been rewarded and pensioned but it should have been a one-off deal. To allow them to keep on holding a financial bullet to the nation is not only insane, it is patently criminal. These thugs will be held accountable one day. There is a saying in English: "What goes around, comes around."

Whilst having grown up within the privilege of white colonial Rhodesia as a family, we chose to stay in the new "reconciled" Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe to contribute to the new regime of equality.

Not only has Zanu PF destroyed my career and life in Zimbabwe, forcing me to migrate to England. Now that I am externally-based, I have watched Mugabe and the Jongwe octopus wrap its tentacles around my dear country and systematically and deliberately strangle, rape, torture, steal it, and nowadays kill our country. This must stop before our nation dies.

I worked for Zimbabwe for 22 years as a career civil servant in the Customs & Excise department. I stayed on at Independence in 1980 and progressed to the grade of assistant controller (director, these days I believe), responsible for the operations of Collector of Customs & Excise, Harare Port.

At the time, Obert Moses Mpofu (a presidential appointee) was my underling and when he went into politics, it was I who gave him a crash course on how to properly use his Togarev pistol - issued to him by "the party" for personal security (for he hadn't a clue - so much for "hard" liberation movement credentials). It was Mpofu who told me that his ascendancy in the political world was due to his relationship with Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa. He told me that he and Mnangagwa were related through their wives. Mpofu went into politics, in a Jongwe sort of way, while I remained in my career. However, Mugabe, Mnangagwa, et al, destroyed that career.

I was wrongly labelled a South African spy, wrongly detained without trial for two years, and wrongly pensioned off (into a pension I no longer receive and which is almost worthless, anyway).

This was done to cover up criminal activities concerning regional luxury car thefts and smuggling north of South Africa, Mandrax smuggling to SA, and the Zimbabwe and Air India direct involvement in sanctions-busting fruit exports for the former apartheid regime via Harare Airport.

Certainly the time for change is long overdue. Zimbabweans desperately need to know about their chiefs' misdemeanours and to act to get these thugs off the levers of power. The last time I received my pension in the UK of about £5 ($478) was in February 2003, over 18 months ago. This is quite scandalous.

I was force-retired (via Chikurubi) as a very senior civil servant; and yet I "officially" get a pittance which, actually, I do not get at all - because Zimbabwe is in the hands of self-serving leaders.

Anyway, I read recently about the war collaborators' gratuity and pension scheme. It went like this:

* A bucket load of millions of dollars as a one-off gratuity; and

* More millions of dollars plus allowances as a pension for life.

I would like to know if I can exchange my now worthless civil service pension, which is non-index-linked and which the current regime doesn't pay to anyone abroad anyway, for a former collaborator's gratuity and pension scheme such as Zanu PF is mooting currently.

I believe the criteria are that one has to be Zimbabwean and have a proven record in the liberation war. For me that is easy. Besides being born in Harare, my involvement in the liberation war can be verified from my RA/pay sheet at 2 Engineer Squadron. The records will show that I was demobilised long after the election in Zimbabwe; that I was awarded three medals - the RGSM, the TRM and the ZIM - and that I was retained on nominal strength in the Zimbabwe National Army long after majority rule. My military numbers are 48223 as an "other rank" national serviceman (ex 1966) and V3400 as a TA-commissioned officer.

Please could you send me the appropriate application forms so that I can apply for my slice of the ex-combatant's cake before all the money is stolen again.

John V Austin

Middlesex, England.

Further comment from Austin suggests that he suspected the involvement in this trans-frontier criminal operation of two (named) white police officers in the employ of the South African Police of the apartheid regime.

This is not surprising. The criminal network connecting South Africa and Zimbabwe in the period prior to Austin's and Harper's detention in 1986 was an organised, systemic, ongoing business, not different in essence from the organised crime of the Mafia (except for its political command structure). The smuggling of Mandrax "in industrial quantities" and stolen German Mercedes and BMW luxury cars "on a commercial scale" into and out of South Africa was not possible without a high degree of knowledge - and probably also, control - to have been exercised by the very capable and experienced South African security forces of that time.

There is information suggesting that a stable system of organised crime was in place in Umkhonto weSizwe in exile during the 1980s, involving the smuggling of gems and drugs in convoy from Luanda in Angola southwards through Western Province in Zambia through Katima Mulilo into Botswana and thus into South Africa, with a return transit traffic of "German take-aways" towards the north. Some of these stolen cars would have been sold in order to provide funds for the organisation (and appropriate individuals); others would have served as the official vehicles of high-placed political appointees. These were the "regional Comrade Godfathers" to whom Austin referred in his Comment on Politicsweb.

There are several important points that follow from this.

1. These were not one-off operations but followed a systemic pattern.

2. A very wide range of ANC exiles were aware of these operations, which were routed through the ANC Security Department (effectively, the organisation's KGB, responsible for the repression of dissent and the operation of its Gulag-type punishment camps, such as Quatro in northern Angola).

3. Members of the ANC in exile regarded this traffic in a positive light, as a revolutionary means of funding the organisation at the expense of "the enemy" (though some may have demurred at the role of drugs as central to this traffic).

4. Certain senior leaders of the ANC in exile could only have known about and sanctioned this traffic.

5. Effectively, the ANC (and with it, Umkhonto weSizwe) operated in Angola, Zambia, Tanzania and other states as a "state-within-a-state". Generally the rule of law and normal state boundaries and controls had no relevance in these recently-independent states. Throughout the region, the ANC was a law unto itself. Once it had committed itself to criminal traffic on an "industrial" or even "commercial" scale, linking crime within South Africa to the region as a whole, it faced no restraint whatsoever from regional governments. As a "body of armed men" (to use Engels's definition of the state), the ANC in exile conducted a regional criminal operation reaching across the sub-continent.

6. It is most likely that this criminal operation was supervised by the South African state security forces of the apartheid regime, as a means of penetration and control of the ANC.

7. There was likely to have been a stable, ongoing set of secret relationships binding top ANC officials responsible for administering this network with top-level criminals within South Africa as well as a range of white and black security officials of the apartheid regime, extending right to the top of that structure.

8. Very ruthless and powerful men controlled this network, and most likely continue to control operations of this kind. They would not hesitate to use extreme violence to preserve secrecy.

9. There is no possibility of achieving a law-bound, civic society in South Africa and throughout the region until the noxious heritage of the political/criminal networks of the apartheid period have been identified and rooted out. It will be a devilishly difficult task.