The Tall Assassin – Alan Elsdon

A5, 240p.

General Hendrik van den Bergh, the former head of the Security Police and later head of the Bureau of State Security (BOSS), was for many, the most feared man in South Africa. He was brilliant and a noted personality among Cold War spies. Locally he reigned in terror and this book, by a former member of the Security Police, implicated him in a large number of murders, some sensational to this day. They include:
The assassination of dr. HF Verwoerd (Prime Minister of RSA)
The death of Nic Diederichs (State President of RSA)
The death of Steve Biko (Black Consciousness leader)
The assassination of Anton Lubowski (Executive member of SWAPO)
The assassination of Prof. Johan Heyns (Dutch-Reformed theologian).
One of the most intriguing murders to which this book links Van den Bergh are the deaths of National Party candidate dr. Robert Smit and his wife in 1977. The author offers a compelling yet convincing explanation for the meaning of the mysterious words painted at the murder scene: “RAU TEM” and provides photographs to support his assertion.