MARK GEVISSER: The Hanekom judgment — so who are SA’s real enemy agents?
Spying has been good for the book trade in SA, but amid the facts and the fiction lurks the real possibility that those in power might not be what they seem
02 October 2019 - 05:10
“@Derek_Hanekom is a known enemy agent.” When judge Dhaya Pillay instructed Jacob Zuma in August to delete this tweet because it was defamatory, Comrade Vladimir Masilela might have agreed. Masilela is one of the fictional heroes of Barry Gilder’s recent novel The List, and is a former head (like Gilder himself) of state intelligence services.
“‘Enemies’ is not a good word,” Masilela says to a new recruit. “We don’t have enemies, [and] opposition to the government is not a legitimate reason to apply the very powerful and sensitive tool of your trade that the law allows you.”..
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