Ters Ehlers: One man, two crimes against humanity

Niren Tolsi | Mail & Guardian

Originally published in The Continent- Issue 124

During the last years of apartheid, Willem “Ters” Ehlers could feel the political tides turning. 

His boss, president PW Botha — who had vehemently defied all calls for reform — was under pressure. Botha’s days of leading his party, and the country, were numbered.

In 1989, Botha met Nelson Mandela in a secret meeting at his Tuynhuys office in Cape Town. Mandela was still in prison at the time. For apartheid stalwarts clinging to their notions of white supremacy, it marked the beginning of the end. The only photo of the meeting was taken by Ehlers.

The fall of apartheid was bad news for Ehlers. A commodore in the South African Navy, he had risen fast to become Botha’s private secretary and aide-de-camp. He was part of the inner circle of an imperial president, which included defence minister Magnus Malan and apartheid assassin and super-spy Craig Williamson.

Ehlers wielded considerable influence and would have had unparalleled insight into the increasingly paranoid and violent regime.

But, as it crumbled, he was soon to be made redundant. What he did next is the subject of a damning new research report by the South African non-profit group Open Secrets, which was released in Johannesburg on Thursday.