SA secret service agent held in Zimbabwe named

SA secret service agent held in Zimbabwe named

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By Staff Reporter

THE South African Secret Service (SASS) officer being held in Zimbabwe in connection with the ongoing spy saga can today be named as Aubrey Welken.

Zimbabwean and South African authorities have consistently refused to name the alleged agent — described by the director of public prosecutions Joseph Musakwa as a state witness and by the media as a “master spy” — supposedly for security reasons.

But the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, quoting intelligence sources, this week identified the SASS officer in question as Welken.

"He had been on the 'Zimbabwe beat' for some time," the paper reported.

SASS is responsible for non-military foreign intelligence. It has counter-intelligence and internal security branches that gather, correlate, and analyse foreign intelligence.

Welken was arrested by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in December last year in a sting operation and has been in detention since. His arrest was said to have led to the detention of five alleged Zimbabwean spies.

These include Zimbabwe’s ambassador-designate to Mozambique Godfrey Dzvairo, Zanu PF foreign affairs director Itai Marchi, former Metropolitan Bank company secretary Tendai Edgar Matambanadzo, Zanu PF deputy security chief Kenny Karidza, and former Zanu PF MP Phillip Chiyangwa, who has now been released.

Intelligence sources said a senior CIO officer named as Miya Meki — who is related to former Intelligence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa — was also arrested at the same time. He has appeared in court in camera facing separate charges and is out on bail.

The sources said Meki was accused of failing to report to his bosses a secret meeting he held with a South African undercover agent who botched a plot to recruit him.

A Switzerland-based Zimbabwean diplomat, Erasmus Moyo, was said to have escaped arrest by disappearing at Geneva airport last year.

There were allegations that cabinet ministers were involved in the case. Former State Security minister Nicholas Goche has denied reports linking him to the case.

Dzvairo, Marchi, Matambanadzo, Karidza, and Chiyangwa were charged with violating the Official Secrets Act and faced 20 years in jail.

Dzvairo, Zimbabwe’s former consul-general to South Africa, was sentenced to six years, while Matambanadzo and Marchi were jailed for five years each.

Chiyangwa was recently released by the High Court but the state said it has not dropped the case.

Karidza is still on trial and Welken is the chief witness against him. However, Karidza is objecting to that and a trial within a trial on the admissibility of statements he allegedly made to CIO investigators is now taking place in camera.

Musakwa has said the espionage case could not proceed due to the trial within a trial. He also claimed last week Welken was not a prisoner but a key witness.

Although the South African government has been making frantic efforts to gain access to Welken to secure his release, it is understood Zimbabwe has been unwilling to cooperate. However, sources say Welken’s wife and son flew to Zimbabwe last Tuesday and managed to see him - Zimbabwe Independent
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