More than ‘just a bump in the road?’: a source analysis of the effects of the Muldergate scandal on South Africa’s international image in the 1970s and 1980s.

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how the Muldergate scandal affected South Africa’s international image. In his book Selling Apartheid, Ron Nixon claimed that the Muldergate scandal had a negligible effect, stating that it was “just a bump in the road.” Nixon then concluded his chapter on Muldergate without further explanation or justification. I have investigated how the Muldergate Scandal was portrayed by foreign media, and sought to gauge the foreign public response to it. I did this by examining articles from three London newspapers between the 1960s and 1980s . I will show that the events of the Muldergate Scandal were made public through these newspapers, and despite the copious information available, the scandal did not have a significant impact on the Apartheid Government. This confirms Nixon’s “bump in the road” claim.