A new report suggests that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played a role in the 1962 arrest of South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.
According to The Sunday Times, an ex-agent revealed that he tipped-off police to the future South African president’s whereabouts. Donald Rickard, who also worked as a diplomat in South Africa, was interviewed on his deathbed by British film director John Irwin for his film, Mandela’s Gun, set to debut at Cannes soon.
“He could have incited a war in South Africa, the United States would have to get involved, grudgingly, and things could have gone to hell. We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it,” said Rickard.
A friend of Mandela’s, Denis Goldberg also told The Sunday Times that the leader “always knew” about the CIA’s role in his arrest, but thought it didn’t matter after her was released.
In response to Rickard’s claims, the African National Congress is speaking out. Party spokesman Ziki Kodwa told BBC Africa, “That revelation confirms what we have always known, that they are working against [us], even today. It’s not thumb sucked, it’s not a conspiracy [theory]. It is now confirmed that it did not only start now, there is a pattern in history.” Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years and later served as president from 1994 to 1999. He died in 2013.
Interesting claims. What do you make of them?
