Another S.A. spy found

Press, 3 February 1984, Page 6

Another S.A. spy found

NZPA-Reuter Cape Town South Africa had exposed another member of its Defence Force as a spy since the conviction of Commodore Dieter Gerhardt as a Soviet agent, the Defence Minister, General Magnus Malan, said yesterday.

He told Parliament that he could give no other details on the person’s identity or the espionage activities. “When the investigations are completed further announcements will be made in this regard,” he said. Gerhardt, former head of the sensitive South African naval dockyard at Simons-

town, was jailed for life in December after being convicted of high treason.

General Malan said that South Africa could expect increased espionage activities. “Russian espionage penetration is world-wide and is not confined to South Africa. It is, in fact, more successful in other major countries,” he said.

Citing examples, General Malan said that some spies had gone undetected in the United States and in Britain for 30 years and more.

The conviction of Gerhardt and his Swiss-born wife, Ruth, who was sen-

fenced to 10 years in jail for high treason, rocked the South African defence establishment.

Gerhardt admitted being engaged in espionage for 21 years but said that he had been working for another unnamed country not hostile to South Africa to feed disinformation to Moscow.

The charges against him said that he had established and maintained a secret communications network and his wife acted as his courier. Both had visited the Soviet Union several times. The conviction raised fears abroad that Gerhardt

might have revealed Western military secrets to the Soviet Union. The Government is expected to face renewed criticism of its security record.

On Monday Opposition members of Parliament attacked the Government’s handling of the Gerhardt affair and security in general. But the Speaker of the House has now banned further reference to Gerhardt in Parliament pending the former Commodore’s decision to appeal against his sentence and his conviction for high treason.