My tip-off led to Mandela's arrest - CIA spy

A former US diplomat, who was working as a CIA spy, revealed that he was responsible for an apparent tip that led to Madiba's 1962 arrest.

New York - A former US diplomat, who was working as a spy for the CIA, revealed that he was responsible for an apparent tip that led to Nelson Mandela's 1962 arrest.

The Sunday Times revealed that Donald Rickard, who served as the US vice-consul in Durban and was a CIA-operative, admitted to providing the intelligence that resulted in Mandela's capture during a taped interview with British filmmaker John Irvin.

Rickard said that Mandela was considered “the world's most dangerous communist outside of the Soviet Union” and was about to incite a rebellion against the apartheid regime, opening the door for Soviet intervention.

“If the Soviets had come in force, the United States would have had to get involved, and things could have gone to hell,” Rickard said. “We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it.”

When Mandela was captured, he was in Durban disguised as a chauffeur .

Rickard reportedly died earlier this year, two weeks after making the bombshell admission.

The revelation has prompted calls for the CIA to release more information about their involvement in Mandela's arrest, as well as their relationship with the apartheid government.

“Mandela's early capture certainly hindered the struggle against apartheid,” said Struggle stalwart Ronnie Kasrils, who had worked with Mr Mandela prior to his arrest.

“It is clear that the regime and its spooks worked hand in glove with the CIA. The CIA needs to come clean on what happened.”

After his arrest, Mandela, who was elected to be South Africa's first black president, served almost 28 years in prison for his efforts to rebel against white minority rule in the country. He repeatedly denied claims that he was a communist.

At the time of Mandela's August 1962 arrest, the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union was at its height. The CIA had eyes on various regions of the globe where they saw communism as a growing threat, including Cuba, East Germany, China, and Vietnam.

That same month, CIA briefings released in September revealed that government officials were first receiving notice of what would later become the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“Eleven Soviet merchant ships are on their way to Havana and we strongly suspect they are carrying arms,” one briefing reads. “Such a delivery would not be far short of the total amount of Arms delivered in the first half of 1962.”

The US intelligence community regarded communism as the biggest threat to democracy at the time, and believed that any spread of Soviet power would compromise the country's safety.

Because of this, US President Ronald Reagan had placed the ANC on a terrorism watch list in the 1980s - and Mandela required special permission to visit the US during and after his 1994 to 1999 presidency.

He was finally removed from the list in 2008.

“It's frankly a rather embarrassing matter,” then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said.

The Independent