Portia 'Posh' Anyamba, a former South African Air Force brigadier general recently sentenced to jail in the US for being a foreign agent for this country, has a deep history connected to the fight against apartheid. Former president Thabo Mbeki apparently even called her once to say he was proud of her.

Former South African Air Force brigadier general Portia "Posh" Anyamba's family home in the Eastern Cape used to be frequented by uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) operatives at night when this country was still an apartheid state.

This was apparently how she was introduced to underground ANC activities, which eventually led to her leaving this country.

Daily Maverick reported on Wednesday, 8 July 2026 that Anyamba was sentenced to half a year in jail and fined in the US last month.

'Paid to give SA reports on events'

She previously pleaded guilty there to acting as an agent for South Africa and to submitting false information in an application to obtain a US security clearance.

Anyamba had also tried to conceal that she was in contact with a South African State Security Agency (SSA) official who was linked to this country's embassy in Washington, DC.

Read more US jails former SA Air Force general for being a 'secret foreign agent' July 8, 2026 She entered a plea agreement, which said evidence in the case suggested that South African officials paid her "to attend think-tank style public functions and events" at the SSA official's request.

"The defendant would then provide...