Bruce McKenzie

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Bruce Roy McKenzie

| native_name =

| image = Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F008932-0028A, BMWi, Landwirtschaftsminister von Kenia.jpg

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| caption = Bruce McKenzie second from left.

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1 January 1919

| birth_place = Richmond, Natal Province, Union of South Africa

| death_date = 24 May 1978 (aged 59)

| death_place = above Ngong Hills, Kenya

| death_cause = Time bomb

| nationality = Kenyan

| other_names =

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| education = Hilton College, Natal, South Africa

| alma_mater =

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| office = Kenyan Minister of Agriculture

| term = 1959–1960

|office1=Minister for Land Settlement |term1=1962–1963

|office2=Member of the House of Representatives|term2=1963

| predecessor =

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}}

Bruce Roy McKenzie {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DSO|DFC}} EGH (1 January 1919 – 24 May 1978) was a South African-born Kenyan politician. He was the Minister of Agriculture in Kenya{{cite book|title=Kenya Gazette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yHSdmto-UJoC&pg=PA475|accessdate=5 January 2013|date=11 May 1966|page=500}} during the presidency of Jomo Kenyatta, to whom he was an adviser.{{cite news|url=http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000042641&pageNo=1 |title=Ugandan agents killed former Cabinet minister, says dossier |publisher=Standard Digital News |accessdate=26 September 2013}} He is alleged to have been an agent for British, South African or Israeli intelligence.{{cite news|last1=Oluoch|first1=Fred|title=Spy who was killed in plane crash|url=http://www.ipsos.co.ke/NEWBASE_EXPORTS/Uhuru%20Kenyatta/130722_The%20Daily%20Nation%20DN2%20-%20Monday_6_58984.pdf|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=The Daily Nation|date=22 July 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810212644/http://www.ipsos.co.ke/NEWBASE_EXPORTS/Uhuru%20Kenyatta/130722_The%20Daily%20Nation%20DN2%20-%20Monday_6_58984.pdf|archivedate=10 August 2014}}

Early life

McKenzie was born in 1919 in Richmond in the Union of South Africa's Natal Province. He joined the South African Air Force in 1939, and was seconded during World War II to Britain's Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force with which he saw action in North Africa, commanding 458 Squadron RAAF and subsequently 17 Squadron SAAF, in the Mediterranean and European theatres. Following his air force service, he emigrated to Kenya in 1946 and became a prominent farmer in Nakuru.{{cite book|last1=Maxon|first1=Robert M.|title=Historical Dictionary of Kenya|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0810874695}}

Political career

In Colonial Kenya he was a member of the legislative Council, known as Legco from 1957-63 and held the post of Minister for Agriculture in 1959–1960 and Minister for Land Settlement 1962–1963.

Post Independence in 1963 he was an appointed member of the House of Representatives (KANU) in 1963 and appointed Minister for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. He was instrumental in implementing the policy of buying land back from settlers, funded by the British Government, and transferring ownership to Kenyans.

Post-political career activities

It is alleged that in January 1976, McKenzie was involved in the kidnapping of two German and three Arab suspected terrorists wanted by Israel for an attempted missile attack on an El Al airliner taking off from the airport of Nairobi.{{cite book|last1=Kahana|first1=Ephraim|title=Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence|date=2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Oxford|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAar3TpYOt4C&q=Bruce+Mackenzie+Mossad&pg=PA171|accessdate=21 July 2014|isbn=9780810865006}} The five were secretly transported to Israel and later sentenced to long prison terms.{{cite news|title=Two German Terrorists Repatriated Before Completing 10-year Term |url=http://www.jta.org/1980/12/26/archive/two-german-terrorists-repatriated-before-completing-10-year-term|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=JTA.org|agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=26 December 1980}}

In late June 1976, during Operation Entebbe, McKenzie persuaded Kenyan President Kenyatta to permit Mossad to collect intelligence prior to the operation, and to allow the Israeli Air Force access to the Nairobi airport.{{cite news|last=Melman |first=Yossi |url=http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Analysis-Israel-and-Kenya-blood-ties-326880 |title=A history of cooperation between Israel and Kenya |publisher=JPost |accessdate=26 September 2013}} Before the operation, McKenzie assisted a Mossad agent who flew a small plane to Entebbe to take aerial photographs of the airport installations and parked fighter jets which were destroyed by the Israeli troops in the raid.

On 24 May 1978, McKenzie was killed when a bomb attached to his aircraft exploded, as he departed a meeting with Amin. Some sources allege that Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered Ugandan agents to assassinate MacKenzie in retaliation for his involvement with the Entebbe rescue.{{cite book|last=Kahana|first=Ephraim|title=Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAar3TpYOt4C&pg=PA171|year=2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6500-6|page=171}}{{cite book|last=Dunstan|first=Simon|title=Entebbe: The Most Daring Raid of Israel's Special Forces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KrL9bHLpOq4C&pg=PA58|year=2011|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc|isbn=978-1-4488-1868-6|page=58}}{{better source needed|date = September 2020}} Some report that the bomb was concealed inside either a mounted antelope head, or a carved wooden statue in the form of a lion's head, which McKenzie had been presented as a gift from Idi Amin just prior to the flight.{{cite news|last1=Gawaya-Tegulle |first1=Tom |title=Background Article: Angry Amin Takes Revenge (Entebbe Raid Part 4) |url=http://www.charlesobbo.com/article94.html |accessdate=21 July 2014 |work=The Monitor |date=7 September 1997 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020181616/http://www.charlesobbo.com/article94.html |archivedate=20 October 2007 }}{{cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=Carole|title=Kenya: The National Epic|date=1993|publisher=East African Publishers|location=Nairobi|page=209}} Other sources have suggested various other possible causes for the bombing, including that another person, also aboard the plane, may have been the target.[https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/1840340-5132026-8pxoxn/index.html "Mossad, McKenzie, Idi Amin: The strange mix,"] May 26, 2019, The Citizen, retrieved September 2020 [CAUTION: THAT WEB PAGE INFECTED WITH A VIRUS at time of retrieval].[https://kenyandigest.com/mystery-behind-bruce-mckenzies-death-lingers-on/ "Mystery behind Bruce McKenzie’s death lingers on,"]{{Dead link|date=November 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} June 2, 2019, Kenyan Digest, retrieved September 2020.

Later, Israel's Chief Director of Mossad, Meir Amit, had a forest planted in Israel in McKenzie's name.

References

External links

[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/36/502.html The Making of Idi Amin], Pat Hutton and Jonathan Bloch, New African, February 2001.
[http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-02/d02-62.htm#idi Who Put Gen. Idi Amin in Power?], Workers' Daily, 2 April 2002, extract from an article published by The Monitor (Uganda) on 31 March 2002.

Category:1919 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:African politicians assassinated in the 1970s

Category:Alumni of Hilton College (South Africa)

Category:Assassinated Kenyan politicians

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:Deaths by explosive device

Category:Kenyan people of Scottish descent

Category:Military personnel from KwaZulu-Natal

Category:Ministers of agriculture of Kenya

Category:Operation Entebbe

Category:People from Umgungundlovu District Municipality