12 Facts About Eschel Rhoodie

Eschel Rhoodie served as the Secretary of the Department of Information between 1972 and 1977, while Connie Mulder was Minister of the department.

Eschel Rhoodie was born on 11 July 1933 in Caledon, Cape Province, Union of South Africa.

Eschel Rhoodie earned a PhD from the University of Pretoria.

Eschel Rhoodie's thesis was a study of "penal systems in the British Commonwealth".

Eschel 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.

That promotion was quite controversial in South African politics, since Eschel Rhoodie was not a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond, a secret fraternal organization dedicated to the promotion of the interests of Afrikaners.

Eschel Rhoodie was young, dynamic, enterprising and impatient, particularly with the bureaucratic process, which were the qualities that enabled him to get things done.

Shortly after his appointment to what would later be called the Dirty Tricks Department, Eschel Rhoodie recruited as his deputies Les de Villiers and his own brother, Deneys Eschel Rhoodie.

In March 1979, Eschel Rhoodie moved to Great Britain, where he attempted to gain political asylum.

Shortly afterwards, Eschel Rhoodie moved to France, where he was eventually arrested by the French authorities.

Eschel Rhoodie moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he "ran a consulting business for South Africans seeking to move to the United States".

Eschel Rhoodie died of a heart attack while playing tennis on 17 July 1993 in Atlanta, Georgia.