Robert Smit
Robert van Schalkwyk Smit (1933–1977) was an economist and parliamentary candidate for South Africa's National Party, tipped as a future Minister of Finance.He was considered a rising star in the party and was expected to be appointed to high office after the elections, possibly even to the Ministry of Finance.[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.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.