Security Branch (South Africa)

Security Branch

Badge of the South African Police
Service overview
Formed	1947
Dissolved	April 1991
Type	Security police
Jurisdiction	South Africa
Status	Defunct
Headquarters	Wachthuis, Pretorius Street Pretoria, South Africa
Parent service	South African Police

Part of a series on
Apartheid
Events 1948 general election Coloured vote constitutional crisis 1956 Treason Trial Sharpeville massacre Rivonia Trial Soweto uprising Church Street, Pretoria bombing Vaal uprising Trojan Horse Incident Khotso House bombing Cape Town peace march CODESA Assassination of Chris Hani Saint James Church massacre 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre
Organisations ANC APLA IFP AWB BBB Black Sash CCB Conservative Party DP ECC FOSATU PP RP PFP HNP MK PAC UDF Broederbond National Party COSATU Security Branch SACC SADF SAIC SAMA SAP SACP State Security Council
People Vernon Berrangé P. W. Botha Steve Biko Mangosuthu Buthelezi F. W. de Klerk Ruth First Bram Fischer Arthur Goldreich Chris Hani Bantu Holomisa Joel Joffe Ahmed Kathrada Albert Luthuli Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Mac Maharaj D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela Govan Mbeki Thabo Mbeki Raymond Mhlaba Benjamin Moloise Albertina Sisulu Walter Sisulu J. G. Strijdom Joe Slovo Robert Sobukwe Helen Suzman Adelaide Tambo Oliver Tambo Eugène Terre'Blanche Desmond Tutu H. F. Verwoerd B. J. Vorster Jacob Zuma
Places Bantustan District Six Robben Island Sophiatown South-West Africa Soweto Sun City Vlakplaas
Related topics Afrikaner nationalism Apartheid in popular culture Apartheid legislation Cape Qualified Franchise Disinvestment campaign Freedom Charter Internal resistance to apartheid Kairos Document Music in the movement against apartheid Nostalgia for apartheid Project Coast Sullivan Principles
Category
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The Security Branch of the South African Police, established in 1947 as the Special Branch,^[1][2] was the security police apparatus of the apartheid state in South Africa. From the 1960s to the 1980s, it was one of the three main state entities responsible for intelligence gathering, the others being the Bureau for State Security (later the National Intelligence Service) and the Military Intelligence division of the South African Defence Force.^[3] In 1987, at its peak, the Security Branch accounted for only thirteen percent of police personnel,^[4] but it wielded great influence as the "elite" service of the police.^[2][5][6]

In addition to collecting and evaluating intelligence, the Branch also had operational units, which acted in neighbouring countries as well as inside South Africa, and it housed at least one paramilitary death squad, under the notorious Section C1 headquartered at Vlakplaas. It is also well known for recruiting askaris (informants, double agents, and defectors), and for the systematic^[6] use of torture and numerous deaths in its detention facilities. Branch officers carried out the murders of Ruth First, Ahmed Timol, the Pebco Three, and The Cradock Four, among many other anti-apartheid activists; Steve Biko died in Security Branch custody after being severely beaten by officers.^[7][8][9] Famous Branch investigations include those leading to the 1956 Treason Trial, the 1963 Rivonia Trial, the 1964 Little Rivonia Trial, and the 1990 Operation Vula trial. It also carried out "Stratcom" disinformation and "dirty tricks" operations which some have likened to a "propaganda war" against the African National Congress.^[6]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that the Security Branch engaged in "massive and systematic destruction of records" in 1992 and 1993, following an instruction from head office in 1992.^[10] As a result, the details of many of the Branch's operations remain unknown or uncorroborated. Several former members, though a small proportion of the overall staff complement, submitted amnesty applications to the TRC and testified at length about the Branch's involvement in extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations.^[11]