OPERATION VULA: THE SECRET COMMUNICATIONS   NETWORK THAT HELPED END APARTHEID.

Tim Jenkin, Director: Community Exchange System

Thursday 18 January 1.00 pm COURSE FEES R110; Staff and students R55

While living in exile in the UK in the 1980s, Tim Jenkin was involved in various secret projects for the anti- apartheid liberation struggle. Chief among them was Operation Vula, which operated from 1988 to 1991. The aim of this project was to smuggle leadership figures back into South Africa and set up communication channels allowing them to talk to one another and the leadership abroad. This involved setting up an unorthodox computer network before the internet existed. The story involves cryptology, intrigue and spy craft.

 

Recommended reading

Jenkin, T. 1995. Talking with Vula The Story of the Secret Underground Communications Network of Operation Vula. Mayibuye Archives: University of the Western Cape.

The Vula Connection. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29vrvKsKXPI&t

O’Malley Archives. 2007. https://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv03445.htm

How the ANC sent encrypted messages in the fight against apartheid. 2015. https://mybroadband.co.za/news/ security/131822-how-the-anc-sent-encrypted-messages-in-the-fight-against-apartheid.html

Revolutionary Secrets: Technology’s Role in the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement. 2007. https://m.moam.info/revolutionary-secrets-south-african-history-online_647a28f5097c4768028c6495. html

 

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