Hilton Dennis
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Hilton Anthony Dennis (born 28 August 1958) is a South African civil servant who first saw service with the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
(ANC) in exile in military and intelligence roles and after 1994 with various reformed intelligence services in the new South African government. He was an ambassador for
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
in the
Department of International Relations and Cooperation The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) is the foreign ministry of the South African government. It is responsible for South Africa's relationships with foreign countries and international organizations, and runs South ...
.


Early life

Dennis was born on 28 August 1958 in
Ixopo Ixopo, also known as Stuartstown, is a town situated on a tributary of the uMkhomazi River along the R56 highway in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Background The town was laid out in 1878 and named after M Stuart, Resident Magistr ...
,
Kwa-Zulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...
, South Africa. He completed his Matric in 1976 at the Little Flower School in Ixopo. In 1977 he attended the
University of Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African apartheid government as a university for Coloured people on ...
(UWC) studying for a bachelor's degree in Law but failed to complete it due to his involvement in political activities. Those activities forced him into exile and he left the country and joined the ANC in 1980.


Exile

By 1981, he was in
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
receiving military training with
Umkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...
(MK), the armed wing of the ANC. As part of the ANC's Department of National Intelligence and Security, he then received counter-intelligence training from 1982 by the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
in the
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
. In 1983, he was appointed the ANC's Counter-Intelligence representative in
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
and in 1984 redeployed to
Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...
,
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
as a counter-intelligence analyst. From 1987 until 1990, his role was as head of the counter-intelligence investigation unit in Lusaka in the renamed
Department of Intelligence and Security The Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) (Arabic: دائرة الإستعلام والأمن) () was the Algerian state intelligence service. Its existence dates back to the struggle for independence. In 2016, it was dissolved by Pres ...
. After the unbanning of the ANC, he returned to South Africa in 1991 and served with the organisation in KwaZulu-Natal during the negotiation period leading up to the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994.


Career after 1994

Following the 1994 democratic elections in South Africa, in 1995 Dennis joined the National Intelligence Agency now known as the Domestic Intelligence Service of the State Security Agency. He found himself in the role of Deputy General Manager, Counter Espionage. By 1998 he had been promoted to General Manager, Counter Espionage tasked with the organising the service's strategic approach and management of counter-intelligence. He was then promoted to the position of Director-General of the
South African Secret Service The South African Secret Service (SASS) was the previous name of a South African intelligence agency. Currently, it is known as the Foreign Branch of the State Security Agency. It is responsible for all non-military foreign intelligence and fo ...
in 1999 replacing
Billy Masetlha Billy Masetlha (21 November 1954 – 14 May 2023) was a South African intelligence officer. He was the head of the South African National Intelligence Agency before being fired by South African President Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki ( ...
who was moved to other areas of the civil service. Dennis remained with South African Security Service, now known as the Foreign Intelligence Service of the State Security Agency, until 2009. In 2010, Hilton Dennis was appointed South African Ambassador to the
Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, a position he held until the end of 2014.


Further reading

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Hilton South African spies South African civil servants 1958 births South African anti-apartheid activists Members of the African National Congress Living people People from KwaZulu-Natal Ambassadors of South Africa to South Korea