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fused to be any part of such action. Pushing back, he reasoned that Gerhardt may be a traitor, but he was entitled to a fair trial before a court of law. Jurisdictionally this was also a police matter, not one for the military, and as policeman first and foremost, he would uphold the law.
the opportunity of retiring at the age of 55. Since he was increasingly at odds with the PW Botha administration, he elected to do this – he simply could not identify with the “total onslaught” mind -set and his rebellious Steenkamp genes did not allow him to meekly accept that which he believed to be morally or logically wrong.
Matters got heated, to the point that Gen. Steenkamp delegated his second in command (thenbrigadier Herman Stadler) to personally go to Johannesburg airport, board the plane and receive Gerhardt from the Americans, with orders then to get him into a Security Police custodial facility asap – thereby effectively challenging anyone to try and take Gerhardt away from such a senior police officer.
During an official farewell function for him the then Minister of Police, Louis le Grange, told a telling story. Without rancour, the minister informed the audience that this general was the only one ever to have the courage to tell him to his face in a meeting: “Minister, nou praat jy sommer k@k”. (Minister, now you are talking shit).
Needless to say, this did not endear him to the powers-that-be, but my father couldn’t care less – his conscience was clean and justice was served.
After my father’s early retirement, he could see during the middle eighties that the situation in the country was becoming progressively more alarming. I, in turn, could see that he had begun to wonder about the wisdom of his decision to step away, since from outside the system he was a mere spectator with no means of influencing decisions. As a great patriot, seeing his beloved country going up in flames whilst he was now stuck on the side-lines bothered him immensely.
Helping negotiate the Nkomati Accord During Frans Steenkamp’s time as Security Branch CO, the Nkomati Accord of good neighbourliness was negotiated between South Africa and Mozambique. My father had a role in these negotiations, which lead to the signing of the Accord on 16 March 1984. To him, this success was further proof of the folly that the incursion into Angola in 1975 had been. Retires at 55: “Minister, nou praat jy sommer k@k”
Because he had joined the SAP so young, Gen. Steenkamp had
Influencing change: from inside the system, or outside?
This brings me to a very valid debating point about how systems in need of change can best be transitioned to something better – through pressure from the outside, or from the inside? (or some combination of both?). This is important, because it is often argued with high moral
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righteousness that the only justifiable action when confronted with something as evil as a racist system / a communist system / whatever form of tyranny or exploitation, is to get out. To abandon it and then oppose it from outside. Such as was indeed done by undoubtedly principled, admirable people like Dr. (Oom Bey) Beyers Naudé when they realised the evil that Apartheid was. But, without diminishing anyone’s role – who had contributed more, in practical terms, to Russia transitioning from communism: Gorbachev or Solzhenitsyn? To South Africa’s transition: FW de Klerk or Oom Bey? Nelson Mandela or Robert Sobukwe? As a political scientist and intelligence analyst, I believe that oppressive systems only change peacefully when the mind-sets of those responsible for decisionmaking are first changed – otherwise, one of necessity talks of violent revolution or external subjugation by force, with all the pain and destruction that those methods typically entail. It is, therefore, highly simplistic (and frankly unjust) to now hold that all who had worked inside the system were morally reprehensible and contemptible, no matter what they stood for or how they had conducted themselves. Back as consultant: his seminal memo about the nature of the challenge Considering how serious the internal situation was becoming, my father was asked in 1986 to come back to Security Police HQ as a consultant. This role actual(Continued on page 29)
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