A KGB trained spy's desperate escape from Cold War South Africa (295)
Sue's cover is blown during a difficult honey trap operation, bringing the Cold War to Africa, and leading to her desperate flight across Southern Africa with the Apartheid security police snapping at her heels.
Cold War Conversations Podcast
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Show Notes
South Africa in the 1980s is a brutal, racist Apartheid regime. Those who oppose it risk their lives. Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s
Sue Dobson is moving easily through the echelons of the racist government in her work as a journalist, whilst concealing her espionage and military training in the Soviet Union, and her intelligence work for the banned African National Congress. She interviewed Apartheid ministers and had a honey trap affair with a police chief involved with the Namibian independence process.
However, Sue's cover is blown leading to her desperate flight across Southern Africa with the Apartheid security police snapping at her heels. We hear in detail about her tense three day car journey to the Soviet Embassy in Botswana and how her KGB training saved her life…
0:00 Introduction and Sue Dobson's Espionage Journey
2:22 Sue's Role in the South African Bureau of Information and Namibia's Independence
8:21 Sue's Encounter with Key Information Source and Communication with ANC
13:55 Sue's Meeting with Apartheid Era Figures and Confrontation with Pik Botha
18:44 Sue's Moral Dilemma and Justification for Her Actions
20:37 Global Attention on South Africa and Tactics Used in Namibia
22:37 Sue's Job Offer and Realization of a Potential Exposure
24:15 Sue's Escape Plan and Journey through Namibia
32:58 Sue's Close Encounter with Surveillance and Journey to Botswana
40:12 Sue's Refuge in the Russian Compound and Escape to Europe
44:27 Sue's New Life in the UK and Fears of Parcel Bombs and Poisonings
47:22 Sue's Decision to Share Her Story
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