[2] Believing that standard diplomatic activity was insufficient to improve Apartheid South Africa's negative image abroad, Rhoodie hatched secret projects, with the knowledge and the huge financial support of top political leaders.
Rhoodie was employed as the press officer of the South African embassy in The Hague in 1971 and he made a clandestine agreement with Dutch publisher Hubert Jussen to establish the magazine.
The Club of Ten, as the group was known, had the difficult task of tackling the news media, the United Nations, other institutions, individuals and countries for their perceived double-dealing and hypocrisy on South Africa.
A number of influential individuals operated more covertly to improve South Africa's image abroad.
It was for the introduction of an English-language newspaper to counter attacks on the apartheid government by the English press, particularly the Rand Daily Mail.
When Luyt's attempt to become a major shareholder was blocked, he announced that he intended to create his own independent newspaper.
Other publications and front organizations like The Study of Plural Societies, the SA Freedom Foundation and the Foreign Affairs Association were also funded by the Department of Information.
In a BBC television interview with David Dimbleby on March 21, 1979, Rhoodie strongly denied the accusations made against him, reiterated his claim that he was being made a scapegoat for the whole affair and maintained that senior government figures, including the Prime Minister of South Africa, John Vorster, knew of and sanctioned the secret projects that he had conducted as head of the Department of Information.