NCJ Number
64189
Journal
AFRICA Issue: 93 Dated: (MAY 1979) Pages: 39-46
Date Published
1979
Length
4 pages
Annotation
SOUTH AFRICA'S MULDERGATE SCANDAL, IN WHICH GOVERNMENT FUNDS WERE BEING ILLEGALLY USED TO SUPPORT A PRO-APARTHEID NEWSPAPER AND RELATED PROJECTS, IS DISCUSSED IN A SERIES OF ARTICLES.
Abstract
LIKE THE U.S. WATERGATE AFFAIR, MULDERGATE INVOLVED ATTEMPTS TO COVER UP THE SCANDAL AND PREVENT JOURNALISTS' INVESTIGATIONS. PRESS EXPOSURE, HOWEVER, FORCED THE GOVERNMENT TO ADMIT THE IRREGULAR USE AND MALADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF PARLIAMENT. IN ADDITION, SEVERAL POWERFUL MEN WERE EITHER DRIVEN FROM OFFICE OR PUBLICLY DISCREDITED. CHIEF AMONG THESE WERE MINISTER OF INFORMATION CONNIE MULDER AND INFORMATION SECRETARY ESCHEL RHOODIE. NEVERTHELESS, MULDERGATE DIFFERED FROM WATERGATE IN THAT MURDER MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED AND THE PROJECTS HAD INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS. MULDERGATE PROJECTS INCLUDED USE OF 64 MILLION RAND OF GOVERNMENT MONEY TO FINANCE A PROGOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER AND EFFORTS TO BRIBE OFFICIALS IN SEVERAL OTHER COUNTRIES. GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO COVER UP THE SCANDAL OR TO PLACE BLAME FOR IT ON A LIMITED NUMBER OF PEOPLE WERE THWARTED BY SUCCESSIVE REVELATIONS WHICH ULTIMATELY INDICATED THAT PRESIDENT VORSTER KNEW OF THE AFFAIR BUT DID NOTHING TO STOP IT AND THAT PRIME MINISTER BOTHA MAY HAVE KNOWN OF IT. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EFFORTS TO THWART PRESS REPORTS ON TWO MURDERS WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO THE SCANDAL, OF THE CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE THE SCANDAL PRODUCED IN THE RULING NATIONALIST PARTY, AND OF ESCHEL RHOODIE, AS WELL AS PHOTOGRAPHS, ARE INCLUDED.