Thandeka Gqubule wants to clear her name over Stratcom spy claims

Well-known journalist Thandeka Gqubule, who has been accused of being part of the Apartheid regime’s Strategic Communications (Stratcom), says she will be approaching the courts to declassify documents linked to the covert operation.

Speaking at a press conference this morning called by ANC veteran Sydney Mufamadi in the wake of damning allegations made against him in award-winning documentary Winnie, based on the life of late struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Gqubule asked Mufamadi if he had ever heard or seen that she or her colleagues at the then Weekly Mail were Stratcom spies.

Mufamadi, the former minister of safety and security between 1994 and 1999, said as far as he could recall, the documents had been destroyed or taken away.

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“Nobody came to me with those files. Some were destroyed, while others were kept by individuals,” he said.

Mufamadi also said former Weekly Mail editor Anton Harber had asked him to ask the police to give him access to the files as well.

In a video clip posed by HuffPost earlier this month, two days after Madikizela-Mandela’s death, the struggle icon made references to Gqubule and Harber, saying they had portrayed her negatively in the media and were “used” by Stratcom, an allegation Harber contends is completely unfounded.