apartheid guns and money: a tale of profit

In forging its future, a new generation of South Africans need to grapple with the baffling silence regarding apartheid-era economic crime and ask difficult questions about of those who profited from it. This book provides the evidence and motivation.

South Africa remains a deeply unequal society battling the legacy of apartheid and the persistence of corrupt networks that seek to ‘capture’ its democratically elected leaders. In Apartheid Guns and Money, Hennie van Vuuren argues that, in the absence of accountability, corrupt networks of the past stay in business. Rather than face justice, they invite members of the new elite to the table. In over 600 pages, this meticulously researched book finally lifts the lid on some of the darkest secrets of apartheid’s economic crimes, weaving together a treasure trove of newly declassified documents and eyewitness accounts.

This book is an exposé of the machinery created in defence of apartheid and in support of sanctions-busting and the people who profited: heads of states, arms dealers, aristocrats, plutocrats, senators, bankers, spies, journalists and members of secret lobby groups. In creating the apartheid arms money machine they were complicit in a crime against humanity. Whistle-blowers were assassinated and ordinary people suffered. Finally, this network of profit is revealed.

reviews

read what others have to say about Apartheid Guns and Money

“When secretive evil deeds are covered in darkness they prosper. From apartheid-era asset stripping they have probably mutated and continue to influence our democratic dispensation. This work shines a light, revealing many uncomfortable truths. It provides important lessons on unfinished business and the need for us now more than ever to find pathways to integrity. These are essential elements for achieving social justice.”

~ Thuli Madonsela, Former Public Protector

“Apartheid Guns and Money… is probably the single most important book that has been written about South Africa for the last 20 years.”

~ Professor Achille Mbembe, WiSER, author of ‘On the Postcolony’

“A brilliant urgent account of our history. Go out and get Apartheid Guns and Money…once you start, you won’t stop until the last page.”

~ Redi Thlabi, broadcaster and award-winning author of ‘Endings and Beginnings’ and ‘Khwezi’

“This important book seeks to uncover one of the key secrets of the last decades of the apartheid era, how the National Party government sought to defeat the international arms embargo. It serves as a timely reminder that the founding values of our new Constitution, that government must be accountable, responsive and open, were a rejection of the clandestine and authoritarian apartheid government, and are key to building a democracy that serves the people.”

~ Justice Kate O’Regan, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and current Director of the Bonavero Institution of Human Rights, Oxford University

 

“By the time you get to the last page of Hennie van Vuuren’s excellent new book, you’ll hopefully understand why South Africans have such little appetite for the past. For, as van Vuuren shows in this passionate and meticulously researched book, ours is an undigested and perhaps indigestible history; that is, we have yet to tuck into the history of endemic corruption and economic crimes at the heart of apartheid and its non-racial successor. But were we to try and take this ugly history in, we would soon discover that it is inedible. This is for the simple reason that its mix of ingredients challenges some of the most comforting stories South Africans have been telling themselves…in Apartheid Guns and Money, van Vuuren and his team of researchers have written a book that, in typical South African fashion, will make for both depressing and hopeful reading: depressing because of the brilliant ways in which the book lays bare the scope and scale of economic crimes at the heart of apartheid (which van Vuuren rightly describes as a criminal economy); hopeful because, as van Vuuren shows so well, the struggle against corruption is indeed a human rights struggle and that, as we know from South Africa’s own history, it can be won. But it must be fought for.”

~ Jacob Dlamini, author of ‘Askari’ and Associate Professor of History at Princeton University

“In this brilliant, revelatory book van Vuuren forensically reveals the systemic corruption of apartheid and the collusion between the state, local and foreign businesses and governments at its core. This dark chapter in our history is essential to understand and progress beyond the current spiral of corruption, collusion and state capture that bedevils our young democracy. It lays bare the roots of the criminality at the heart of our politics and business, explaining how events ranging from the Arms Deal, Marikana and the Gupta phenomenon are possible, perhaps even inevitable. It illustrates that corruption and deceit know no racial, ideological or national boundaries. It argues compellingly that in our fraught country, and world, democracy demands daily struggle.This is a crucial book at a vital time in our history. It is a must read!”

~ Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP, author of ‘After the Party’ and ‘The Shadow World’, Executive Director of Corruption Watch UK

“A labour of political passion, this admirably well-researched book is a must-read. Its most important achievement is to show that illicit trade does not occur in some parallel realm detached from corporate boardrooms and governments; it is stitched into the fabric of statecraft and the exercise of power.”

~ Jonny Steinberg, author and Professor of African Studies, Oxford University

“R2K salutes the research team of Open Secrets South Africa for their commitment in unearthing the truth. We are very proud to call them comrades! Ongazi Makazi!” 

~ Statement by the Right2Know Campaign

“Apartheid Guns and Money, for my money, should be on the list of prescribed books for high school students in Grades 11 and 12 as well as university students, especially those majoring in political science, economics and forensic investigations.” 

~ Kim Helfrich, DefenceWeb

graphics

this book is accompanied by a series of graphics, the treasure maps that help explain much of the content of the book. they were designed by Gaelen Pinnock of Scarlet Studios. kindly attribute the publication if posted elsewhere.

taking action

we believe in research that leads to action. our investigations are therefore closely linked to our law and advocacy work, so that we can hold private sector actors and institutions accountable for the economic crimes we uncover.