Cloak and dagger intrigue at St Pauls Cathedral

White Lies
As it Happened, SBS
Thursday, November 9, 8.30pm (8pm in SA)
Previewed by Norm Dixon Anybody who has had an involvement in the struggle against apartheid over the years will probably have heard of the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), or has some of its excellent publications. This documentary is a fascinating account of the fund's work. It provides an inspiring lesson in the importance and effectiveness of international solidarity in helping liberation movements achieve victory. The IDAF was born in 1953, soon after Father Trevor Huddleston wrote from his parish in South Africa to Canon John Collins of London's St Pauls Cathedral. Huddleston asked Collins to raise money to help the families of those suffering at the hands of the apartheid regime. Over the next 40 years, &163;100 million was raised. The money was used inside South Africa to pay for defence lawyers for political trialists and prisoners, provide welfare and support for their dependents, and to publish books and pamphlets. Over the years IDAF funds helped save many liberation movement leaders — most notably Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu — from the apartheid regime's gallows. IDAF funded the successful defence of the 150 people accused in the 1956 treason trial, which lasted six years, and supported their dependents. What becomes clear through this film is the dedication of the London-based IDAF activists when faced with the realities of the struggle. Predominantly Christian, liberal and middle-class, their seriousness was tested. For example, while a fugitive, Mandela met Collins secretly in May 1961 in St Pauls Cathedral and informed him that the ANC was to launch the armed struggle. Collins was a pacifist, yet he responded that IDAF would continue to support the struggle and that decisions about the form of that struggle were up to the leadership of the liberation movement. When the ANC's top leadership was captured at Rivionia in 1962 with military equipment and plans, IDAF paid the accused's defence costs. Mandela and Sisulu were convinced they would be hanged but instead were sentenced to life on Robben Island. IDAF supported the trialists' families for the next two decades. Despite being based in London, the IDAF had to take extraordinary security measures to ward off South African secret police agents. In 1966, IDAF was outlawed in South Africa and anybody receiving money from the organisation was liable to imprisonment. This put literally hundreds of defence lawyers and families of political prisoners at risk. IDAF set up a sophisticated network of 700 "agents" in eight countries complete with safe houses, "dead letter drops", clandestine meetings, code names, dummy trust funds, failed infiltration attempts by South African spies, and a network of activists drawn from street sweepers to Lords. South Africa's spooks were furious that they could not stop the millions of pounds from reaching their opponents. At the height of the uprising in the 1970s, &163;10 million in cash a year was entering South Africa by mail! Let's hope that a book that details this fascinating history is not too long in coming. In the meantime, don't miss this excellent documentary.