---
title: "AmaBookaBooka: Turning the tables on Jonathan Ancer"
description: "We turn the tables in this episode of AmaBookaBooka – the interviewer becomes the interviewed; the griller the grilled; the question asker, the answer giver. I normally host the AmaBookaBooka podcast but in this episode I become the subject – and author, editor and journalist Chris Whitfield plays the role of interviewer-in-chief. By JONATHAN ANCER."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "South Africa"
author: "Jonathan Ancer"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/jonathan-ancer/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-12-12-amabookabooka-turning-the-tables-on-jonathan-ancer/"
published: "2017-12-12T01:20:08"
updated: "2017-12-12T01:20:09"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 385
---

# AmaBookaBooka: Turning the tables on Jonathan Ancer

> We turn the tables in this episode of AmaBookaBooka – the interviewer becomes the interviewed; the griller the grilled; the question asker, the answer giver. I normally host the AmaBookaBooka podcast but in this episode I become the subject – and author, editor and journalist Chris Whitfield plays the role of interviewer-in-chief. By JONATHAN ANCER.

By Jonathan Ancer · Published 12 December 2017, 03:20 SAST · Updated 12 December 2017, 03:20 SAST

## Content

[Media: "Content hosted by iono.fm"](https://embed.iono.fm/epi/510590) Chris asks me about *Spy: Uncovering Craig Williamson*, the book I wrote which was published in March.

*Spy* tells the story of the seemingly ordinary Craig Williamson, who walked onto Wits University’s campus in 1972 and joined the National Union of South African Students (Nusas), the left-wing student movement. Williamson was elected Nusas’ vice-president and in January 1977, when his career in student politics came to an abrupt end, he fled the country and from Europe continued his anti-apartheid “work”.

But Williamson was not the activist his friends and comrades thought he was. In January 1980, Captain Williamson was unmasked as a South African spy. Williamson returned to South Africa and during the turbulent 1980s worked for the foreign section of the South African Police’s notorious Security Branch and South Africa’s “super-spy” transformed into a parcel-bomb assassin – whose unit was responsible for the death of struggle icon Ruth First in 1982 and anti-apartheid activist Jeanette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in 1984.

Through a series of interviews with the many people Williamson interacted with while he was undercover and after his secret identity was eventually exposed, I detail Williamson’s double life and the stories of a generation of courageous activists. The book eventually culminates with me coming face-to-face with South Africa’s “super-spy”.

Chris and I discuss why I chose to write about Williamson (spoiler alert: because of a pink rabbit) and how I managed to convince people who had been betrayed by Williamson to talk to me, including Thabo Mbeki. In the course of my research, I discovered a letter penned by the former president, which seemingly vouched for Williamson. But the letter wasn't all that it seemed.

I also talk about my meeting with Williamson and how I looked into his eyes to see if the former Special Branch agent had any remorse.

After subjecting dozens of hapless authors to AmaBookaBooka’s world-famous Sound Effects Rorschach Test, it was my turn to see what it’s like in the hot seat and have my subconscious exposed.

Meanwhile, during this week’s Self-Publishing Corner, MYeBook founder Dave Henderson discusses what it takes for self-publishing authors to have success – and tells listeners the one thing writers should *always* focus on. Interested in self-publishing? Visit the [MYeBook.co.za](http://myebook.co.za/) website for regular news.**DM**