Shaking hands with Billy

By Anthony Turton

Subjects: Intelligence service, History

Description: This book is a personal memoir of a retired senior intelligence officer who served in various arms of the South African security forces at the height of the Cold War. The memoir describes the role of the National Intelligence Service in stabilizing South Africa at a time when the Armed Struggle was at its peak. It also explains how the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) was established as a foundation for the transition to democracy in 1994. A detailed timeline is given of the military confrontation between CODESA (which was opting for a unitary state) and COSAG (Concerned South Africans Group) who preferred a federal structure in which group rights were recognized. This was a pivitol moment because full-scale civil war would have resulted, the military might well have opted for a coup d'etat and Zuland and other areas might well have seceeded.