A former Brigadier General in the South African Air Force has been sentenced to six months in federal prison and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to acting as an agent of the Republic of South Africa and making false statements in an application to obtain a security clearance, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee announced Thursday.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the sentence was imposed after 59-year-old Portia Anyamba admitted to regularly communicating with an intelligence officer of the South African State Security Agency (SSA) in 2023 and 2024, when she was working as a program management operational specialist in the National Security Program Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
The DOJ press release states that, on one occasion, the FBI observed Anyamba meeting with her SSA contact at a restaurant, then moving to a hotel. When she was apprehended, the DOJ states that FBI agents found that Anyamba had brought a laptop computer as instructed by the SSA intelligence officer.
Throughout the period she was “under the control of foreign agents,” the DOJ states that Anyamba was simultaneously applying for a United States Government security clearance and falsely claimed on the paperwork that she had no contact with representatives of foreign governments over the past seven years.
In a statement, United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III noted Anyamba worked at a U.S. Department of Energy facility at the time of her arrest.
“Our Office and our law enforcement partners will remain diligent in ensuring that its employees – and all government personnel entrusted with access to sensitive information – are trustworthy, candid, and pose no risk to national security,” said Hamilton. “We are committed to protecting the Laboratory and supporting the important work it does for our nation.”
In its press release, the DOJ does not state whether Anyamba remains a citizen of South Africa or how she immigrated to the United States. However, the South African National Defense Force requires its members to be South African citizens and to hold no dual citizenship.
The Tennessee Star contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seeking details about Anyamba’s lawful residence status in the country, and to ask whether U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would consider referring Anyamba to the DOJ for a potential denaturalization case following her conviction.
A spokesman for DHS told The Star, “We refer you to DOJ due to an ongoing investigation.”
The sentencing comes as relations between the United States and South Africa continue to deteriorate under the Trump administration, with the White House reportedly preparing to pull funding for an HIV-AIDS program amid more than a year of disagreements.
Shortly after beginning his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order accusing South Africa of enabling the mass seizure of agricultural property owned by white South Africans, pursuing policies to “dismantle equal opportunity,” tolerate rhetoric fueling violence against white landowners, and taking foreign policy positions regarding Israel that are hostile to the United States.
The Trump administration has reportedly told South Africa that, in order to normalize relations, the country would classify attacks on white-owned farms as a priority crime, unequivocally condemn public chants of “Kill the Boer, kill the Farmer,” create a system where farmers are fairly compensated for land appropriations, and exempt American-owned companies from race-based legislation.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
