Castan Centre Public Event: Hennie Van Vuuren - Apartheid, Guns and Money

Apartheid, Guns and Money.
The Castan Centre was excited to welcome Hennie Van Vuuren, activist, writer and director of non-profit ‘Open Secrets’ to discuss the economic crimes that took place during South Africa’s apartheid regime, and the actors that profited from a system that enabled vast human rights abuses and entrenched racial inequality during that time.
Hennie’s talk on apartheid, guns and money centred around the shocking discoveries he and his team made while investigating the economic crimes that took place during South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime.
He began by acknowledging that while there exists a prevailing myth that the ‘issue of corruption is part and parcel of African governments, and black-led governments’ corruption in South Africa commenced was widespread and thriving far before the dawn of democracy in the country over 20 years ago. Indeed corruption was rampant both in South Africa and abroad during apartheid as States, companies, and financial institutions sought to profit from the oppressive system.
Several states, international banks and companies were found to have economic ties to South Africa during apartheid. Hennie explained that at the time there existed significant ‘solidarity networks’ that economically supported the apartheid regime, and profited from this relationship. He discussed in detail the case of Dulcie September, anti-apartheid activist who sought to expose these crimes, and was murdered in the process in Paris. Dulcie’s research, along with a vast volume of newly declassified archival documents obtained through Freedom of Information laws led Hennie and his team to discover links to major banks, arms companies, intelligence agencies across Europe that acted in collusion to sustain the apartheid regime. Hennie importantly pointed out that the money directed towards these solidarity networks through South Africa’s purchase of arms was redirected away from the South African population. This continuity filtered into the democratic era when Nelson Mandela’s government started doing business with some of the same arms companies while the country was struggling immensely with issues of poverty and the spread of HIV AIDS which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands at the time.
Hennie also highlighted that while reconciliation efforts in South Africa were able in many cases to shed light on the horrendous crimes that were committed against black South Africans, they fell short of holding those responsible to account for economic crimes committed during the regime. He concluded that the legacy of the human rights abuses that occurred during apartheid, and the economic crimes that took place throughout that period have seriously impacted the political and economic landscape of South Africa today.
Hennie’s presentation was followed by an engaging Q&A session hosted by Castan Centre Director Sarah Joseph.
Our Speaker
Hennie van Vuuren is a South African activist and writer. He is the director of Open Secrets a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town that investigates and seeks accountability for economic crimes, abuse of power and human rights violations. He has also worked as Director of the Institute for Security Studies in Cape Town and for Transparency International in Berlin. He is the author of Apartheid Guns and Money: A tale of profit (Hurst, 2018) and co-author of The Devil in the Detail: How the Arms Deal Changed Everything (2011).

[@SaleemKhan-ny7wf]

Thank you Hennie there are millions of South Africans who knows very little about the deeper inner workings of the apartheid system.

[@floridaman_85_58]

Tell me about it...i always found the idea that, "sa was less corrupt during apartheid" a little weird, but i would never have thought to challenge it because its actually never talked about. like this the first time ever hearing this.

[@mansamusa6505]

Mostly White people who choose to ignore so they can blame Black people