The 1990 plot to kill Nelson Mandela
As SA groped towards its first nonracial election, an American spy claimed he had uncovered an assassination plot
30 July 2024 - 05:00
With his close-cropped white moustache, wisp of snowy forelock, and sharp cheekbones, Bill Swing bears a remarkable resemblance to the late SA statesman Gen Jan Smuts — and today (July 26 1990), his penetrating stare is a grim replica of Oom Jan’s during the dark days of World War 2.
Swing has convened a meeting this wintry July morning with his aides and the CIA station chief in the US embassy in Pretoria, where he presides as ambassador, overseeing the delicate process of monitoring SA’s fraught groping towards its first multiracial settlement...
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