The Fascinatingly Unearthed McKenzie Affair
On 16 April 1987, Keith McKenzie arrived as a detainee in the African National Congress (ANC) detention camp in northern Angola, officially called the Morris Seabelo Rehabilitation Centre, or Camp 32, which was also known as “Quatro”.
On 3 January 1987, McKenzie was at his home in Eesterus, a township near Pretoria, when he received a call from Lester Dumakude of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Special Operations Unit, requesting him to be present at a meeting in Botswana. The call was being recorded by the racist South African Police forces. After the call, the Security Branch Chief, General Johan van der Merwe, was briefed by Brigadier Wikus Loots, who informed him that Johannes “Victor” Mnisi, Ernest Lekoto “Oupa” Pule and Lester “Chris” Dumakude were important MK operatives heading the arms smuggling and terrorist infiltration activities of the ANC between South Africa and Botswana.
According to Loots, their agent McKenzie had received an instruction from MK to smuggle weapons and explosives into South Africa during the Easter weekend. For the upcoming mission, McKenzie was going to use his VW Kombi, for arms usually obtained from Mnisi, Dumakude and/or Pule, and this created an opportunity to eliminate the trio, especially Mnisi, who was also directly responsible for acts of terror, particularly the Pretoria Church Street bombing, in May 1983. General van der Merwe gave Brigadier Loots permission to proceed with
