Olivia Forsyth was born in Kensington, London, England, in May 1960, to South African parents Joan Yvonne and Peter Traill Forbes Forsyth.
25 Facts About Olivia Forsyth
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Olivia Forsyth was a school prefect and house captain as well as a member of the Pietersburg Junior Town Council.
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Olivia Forsyth attended Rhodes University from 1982 to 1985, where she majored in journalism and politics and earned an African Studies Honors degree.
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In 1985 Olivia Forsyth registered for a master's degree in journalism but did not complete it.
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From May to November 1981, Olivia Forsyth worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria as a foreign service officer.
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Olivia Forsyth was assigned to the Protocol Department, based in the Union Buildings, where she was approached by the National Intelligence Service.
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Olivia Forsyth joined the Security Branch of the South African Police in November 1981 during which time she was recruited by Craig Williamson and trained at the spy training center known as Daisy Farm.
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Olivia Forsyth operated at Rhodes University under cover as a student from 1982 until 1985, becoming a leader in anti-apartheid groups.
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Olivia Forsyth became chairperson of the National Union of South African Students local committee at Rhodes, media officer on the Rhodes Students' Representative Council, chair of the local End Conscription Campaign, treasurer of the campus Women's Movement, and editor of the student newspaper Rhodeo and of the community paper Grahamstown Voice.
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Janet Cherry, a former underground operative for the African National Congress and leading activist in the Eastern Cape, said Olivia Forsyth had led a double life by completely "integrating herself into student life".
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Olivia Forsyth arranged for journalists and exiles to write reports, including some on the eleven-nation Southern African Development Coordination Conference.
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Olivia Forsyth obtained accreditation as a journalist to one of the SADCC conferences in Harare.
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In Lusaka, Olivia Forsyth met Ronnie Kasrils, then-Intelligence Chief of Umkhonto We Sizwe.
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In February 1987, Olivia Forsyth was released from Quatro following the intervention of Kasrils and Umkhonto We Sizwe leader Chris Hani.
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Olivia Forsyth was taken to an ANC safe house in Luanda, where she remained for the next fifteen months.
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Olivia Forsyth escaped to the British embassy in Luanda on 2 May 1988.
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Sources in the ANC and anti-apartheid movement claimed that Olivia Forsyth had been captured and escaped twice.
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Olivia Forsyth remained in the embassy compound until 16 November 1988, when she was granted an exit visa.
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The Angolan News Agency reported that Olivia Forsyth had been a spy since 1981 and that she was being expelled from Angola.
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Olivia Forsyth was accompanied by embassy officials to the airport in Luanda and flew to Paris and then to Heathrow Airport, where she was reunited with her father.
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The ANC issued a statement confirming that they had approached the South African government in an attempt to swap Olivia Forsyth for condemned ANC members, including the Sharpeville Six and Robert McBride.
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The statement gave details of police agents whose details Olivia Forsyth had revealed to the ANC.
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ANC sources in London said the Olivia Forsyth operation had been a huge espionage blunder for South Africa.
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Olivia Forsyth resigned from the Security Branch in November 1989; she now lives in the United Kingdom, having taught English at an independent senior school, The Grange School Northwich where she revealed her previous secret identity in a whole school assembly, for several years.
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In July 2015 Olivia Forsyth published her memoir, Agent 407: A South African Spy Breaks Her Silence.