S. African military gets help from U.S., Israel
1987 1987-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 15 →
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made weapons to South Africa to refit its military speedboats. According to The Washington Post, the U.S. government approved the trade because of South Africa's strategic role in patrolling sea routes around the Cape of Good Hope.
Israeli sub-contractors are also believed to have played a crucial role in the building of a $300-million "electronic fence" on the border with Namibia. Much of this technology originally came from the United States. In addition, both the U.S. and Israeli armed forces have provided training for police units in South Africa.
Joint spy operations
"The United States," reported The New York Times (July 23, 1986), "working closely with British intelligence, has provided South Africa with intelligence about the banned and exiled African National Congress, according to current and former government officials."
A "senior administration official," who was unnamed, "categorically denied" the intelligence sharing. But even the skimpy information in the Times made a liar of the official. A special focus of the intelligence sharing with Pretoria has been the regional activities of the South African Communist Party and of the Soviet Union, Cuba, and other workers' states.
The July 23 Times article also unintentionally provided strong clues of yet another form of support. The South African state, the article reported, "has no [independent] satellite-intelligence ability."
Since navigation and communications today are highly dependent on satellites, it is extremely likely, if not certain, that imperialism is providing Pretoria with the