The President’s Keepers author Jacques Pauw participated in a discussion in Stellenbosch this morning, detailing the events leading up to the Hawks raid of his property earlier this week.
Daily Maverick journalist Pauli Van Wyk hosted the discussion with Pauw in a well-attended Woordfees event at the Kruiskerk. Pauw immediately regaled the audience with Wednesday’s events and the raid of his property where he runs a restaurant in Riebeek-Kasteel.
Pauw admitted that his staff are well-prepared for such incidents, and that they immediately threw two laptops out of the window, one of which landed in his neighbour’s compost heap. The Hawks were searching for documents relating to incriminating information published in The President’s Keepers.
While the Hawks did not find anything of value on the property, Pauw says he was completely surprised by the raid. “I felt as if I was back in the dark days of apartheid when we wrote about the death squads. [The Hawks] are supposed to be investigating acts of terrorism, now they’re investigating me.”
Jacques Pauw and Pauli Van Wyk host discussion in Stellenbosch Kruiskerk. PHOTO: Lauren Dold
Pauw commented that he was surprised that the raid took place exactly two weeks into newly-elected President Ramaphosa’s term.
“Ramaphosa is the best we can do at the moment.” said Pauw. Pauw however, maintains that South Africans should not become complacent. “We can’t sit back and relax for a while, we have to be vigilant.”
Pauw came out of retirement for the writing of this book, after ending his expansive journalistic career in 2014 to pursue business in the hospitality industry. His retirement was short-lived.
“I didn’t plan to write this book. I didn’t plan to write again,” Pauw revealed. He describes journalists, himself included, as “addicts,” and when the opportunity arose to write The President’s Keepers, he felt he couldn’t help but pursue the high.
“The fact that I suddenly became a celebrity was terrible for me,” says Pauw, after his controversial book propelled him into the public eye. Discussions such as this one have become part of his daily agenda since the release of his book in October of last year.
Pauw ended the discussion with some advice for the audience and for broader civil society: “People must be vigilant and active, we must all be activists, for freedom and for democracy and for justice.”