This was about spying on their normal work. The objective of the operation was described as acquiring “retrieved documents, including briefings for South African delegates to G20 and G8 meetings”.
It is clear that GCHQ was aiming to find out everything it could about the negotiating position of the government of President Thabo Mbeki, an independently minded swing vote on issues of global economics and finance.
Such intelligence collection was carried out under the title “transnational strategic issues” which embraced energy, economics and the environment.
It was a multipronged offensive against the South African foreign ministry under Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The phone lines used by the country’s high commission in London were “investigated”.
via How GCHQ stepped up spying on South African foreign ministry | World news | The Guardian.
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