Former ANC espionage king Mo Shaik has confirmed that he is still in the intelligence business.

He told the Hefer Commission that he had a secret database of the names of 888 people who spied on the liberation movement for the apartheid regime.

The database is on a computer that is accessed by a "secret code". You know, just like in the Famous Five books.

But there is a way that the ANC can get its hands on the list.

Shaik said he would hand it over if ordered to do so by the organisation.

So all ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe has to do is to get the ANC executive to formally request the information from Shaik and, hey presto, the cat will be out of the bag. Or maybe the cat will be back in the bag.

That can't be so hard, Kgalema. You can do it.

With acknowledgements to Hogarth and the Sunday Times.