They were all spying on Winnie, claims former apartheid cop

A former apartheid-era security operative has told eNCA the entire Mandela United Football Club was spying on Winnie Madikizela in the 1980s at the height of state repression against those in the struggle.

Paul Erasmus, now in his early 60s, even claimed that the late Stompie Seipei had been spying on “Mama Winnie”, a woman he claims to have come to respect and befriend later in life.

The recruitment of the young men in the infamous football club – which never played much soccer and was ironically understood to be involved in attempts to uncover and punish or even kill people who were informing for the state – was part of a Stratcom initiative to discredit Madikizela-Mandela and other struggle fighters that the regime considered too radical to negotiate with in the upcoming transition to democracy.

Erasmus claimed the campaign was very effective and that they managed to get everyone close to her at the time – the men in the club – to inform on her.

You can watch the full interview here.