Robert Smit

The most popular theory about the Smits' murders is that they were carried out by the South African security forces, probably at the behest of a high-level politician or official. In particular, since 1977, there has been a persistent rumour that Smit had uncovered large-scale corruption or fraud in the state and planned to expose it.[1][6][7] Smit had reportedly told several people that he was in possession of "explosive" information which he planned to share.[3][7] This theory first emerged in December 1977, when the Sunday Express reported that police were considering the possibility that Smit had been murdered after uncovering a foreign currency racket.[3] After the Information Scandal broke in 1978, rumours circulated that Smit had been killed because he had known about the secret slush fund used, with Prime Minister John Vorster's authorisation, to fund the state's covert propaganda campaign.[3] Other theories proffered have included that Smit was in possession of information relating to South Africa's nuclear programme, to South Africa's sanctions-busting activities, or to an assassination plot against Foreign Minister Pik Botha.[7][6]

The Bureau for State Security (BOSS) has also become persistently associated with the murders in the popular imagination.[1][3] BOSS was a central player in the Information Scandal, and was alleged to include a unit, the so-called Z-Squad, which carried out extra-judicial killings in the 1970s. In 1997, Roy Allen, a former member of BOSS, was named as the chief suspect in the murder case, although he denied the allegations and said that he had not belonged to the so-called Z-Squad.[3] Then, almost a decade later, the Beeld reported, on the basis of information from an anonymous source in the intelligence services, that Allen and two alleged former Z-Squad members – Dries Verwey and Phil Freeman – had carried out the murders, to prevent Smit from publicly disclosing his knowledge about secret overseas bank accounts that were held by the state to pay front organisations.[3][8][9] However, no charges were ever laid: Verwey had died in 1980; Freeman had committed suicide in 1990; and Allen was by then living in Australia.[8][7][10] It has also been alleged that the police investigations into the murders were in fact orchestrated to cover up the involvement of the security forces,[7] and attention has also been given to the possibility that Smit was murdered by a Cuban hit squad.[1][3]

After the end of apartheid, Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard evidence on the Smits' murders. Its report said that the evidence suggested that some party retained "a contemporary interest in ensuring that the facts surrounding the killings remain hidden," indicating "a political agenda or at least one in which powerful – possibly financial – interests are vested." It concluded that the murders had been politically motivated and carried out by members of the apartheid security forces.[7]