Eschel Rhoodie

Eschel Rhoodie
Secretary of the Department of Information
In office 1972–1977

Eschel Mostert Rhoodie (1933 – 17 July 1993) was a South African civil servant, public relations man and spin doctor most famous as being one of the key players in the 1978-79 Information Scandal, also known as "Infogate" or "Muldergate". He served as the Secretary of the Department of Information between 1972 and 1977, while Dr Connie Mulder was Minister of the department.

Believing that standard diplomatic activity was insufficient to improve apartheid South Africa's negative image abroad, Rhoodie hatched secret projects with the knowledge and huge financial support of top political leaders. One example of this was the use of public funds globally to covertly entice finance journalists to write positive articles about South Africa in publications such as the Dutch weekly magazine To the Point. Rhoodie was employed as the press officer of the South African embassy in The Hague in 1971 and he made a clandestine agreement with Dutch publisher Hubert Jussen to establish the magazine. To the Point was to be secretly financed by the South African government. This secret scheme had the approval of the Prime Minister, B.J. Vorster, the chief of the Intelligence Services, General Hendrik van den Bergh, the Minister of Information, Connie Mulder and Gerald Barrie, the then head of the Department of Information.

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