De Wet Potgieter

De Wet Potgieter  (investigative journalist, author)

De Wet Potgieter is a South African investigative journalist and author. He started his journalistic career in 1974 as a court reporter in Pretoria. Since then he has worked as an investigative journalist for the Sunday Times, where he focused on exposing the corruption in the NP government and the horrors of state-sanctioned hit squads; for Rapport, the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper; more recently for The Citizen, Lowvelder and City Press, which in August 2015 published his article titled: "Did SA spies bomb UN boss’ plane?".

He has participated in a number of TV exposés and in film documentaries such as "Cold Case Hammarskjöld".

Books

De Wet Potgieter's books include:

Contraband

• "Contraband – South Africa and the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn", 1995

Total Onslaught

• "Total Onslaught: Apartheid’s dirty tricks exposed", 2012

For much of its time in power, the National Party government was shored up by the direct involvement of its security forces. Ordinary citizens had no idea that their taxes were being used to fund unorthodox and even illegal operations, ranging from international propaganda campaigns to local death squads. From the dreaded Security Branch, the sinister Civil Cooperation Bureau, the aptly named BOSS and the ubiquitous front companies set up to bypass an arms embargo and economic sanctions, South Africa was run by stealth. It was the government’s Total Strategy against the enemy’s Total Onslaught. A handful of intrepid journalists began the process of uncovering the truth about apartheid, but despite their dedication and the later efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africa’s recent history remains fraught with secrets. Now, for the first time, investigative reporter De Wet Potgieter can reveal the truth behind some of the most enigmatic events in South Africa’s past, from what happened during P W Botha’s final cabinet meeting to the assassination of Olof Palme. These, and many other news stories of the time, afford a rare and fascinating glimpse into the behind-the-scenes machinations of South Africa’s security apparatus in the apartheid era.

Black Widow White Widow

• "Black Widow White Widow: Is Al-Qaeda operating in South Africa?", 2014

When in 2013 he first published a report on the active presence of Al-Qaeda in South Africa, all hell broke loose for investigative reporter De Wet Potgieter. He was forced to retract before two more substantiating articles could be published.

Then the massacre at Westgate Mall hit Nairobi, which made the involvement of the so-called White Widow – operating on an illegally acquired South African passport – front-page news. Suddenly the world’s media was beating a path to Potgieter’s door.

Now, for the first time, he tells the full unsettling story of Al-Qaeda’s presence in this country. Not only is the veil lifted from this mysterious British woman, but the identity of another is disclosed: an Afrikaans-speaking counter-terrorist operative known as the Black Widow.

The book shows how, taking advantage of corrupt state machinery, Al-Qaeda factions launch attacks in other African countries. It discloses details of paramilitary and urban warfare training on a secluded farm and reveals disturbing details of the support they receive from various local extremist groups. Based on investigations spanning two years, "Black Widow White Widow" paints a frightening picture of the all too real possibility of future attacks from, or on, South African soil.

Gruesome

• "Gruesome: The crimes and criminals that shook South Africa", 2015

 

A Document by De Wet Potgieter

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Did SA spies bomb UN boss’ plane?	Article	17 August 2015	Dag Hammarskjöld Janusz Waluś Chris Hani South African Institute for Maritime Research Operation Celeste NIS SSA Patrice Lumumba Susan Williams Allen Dulles CIA MI6 Ndola Dag Hammarskjöld/Assassination	Susan Williams writes that in this set of documents – headed ‘Top Secret’ and ‘Your Eyes Only’ – Allen Dulles, the then director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, had promised full cooperation with Operation Celeste, which had also been agreed with British intelligence agency MI6.

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