A former South African Air Force brigadier general has been sentenced to six months in a United States federal prison while working at one of the US’s most sensitive national security research facilities.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 59-year-old Portia Anyamba, who was living in Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced on 17 June 2026 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
According to the plea agreement, Anyamba pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an agent of the Republic of South Africa without notifying the US Attorney General, which is in violation of federal law.
Anyamba also pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements on a US government security clearance application.
In addition to her six-month prison sentence, the court ordered that she serve two years of supervised release and pay a fine of $9,500 (R155,000).
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, the case stems from Anyamba’s work in 2023 and 2024 as a Program Management Operational Specialist in the National Security Program Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.
ORNL is one of the United States Department of Energy’s most important scientific research facilities.
Originally established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, it now conducts advanced research in energy, artificial intelligence, supercomputing and national security.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Nashville Field Office and the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.
They found that Anyamba “was acting in the United States under the direction and control of the Republic of South Africa” and that she also made “materially false statements” during her security clearance application.
Investigators said Anyamba maintained regular contact with an intelligence officer from South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA), identified in court records only as “IO-1”.
The individual was described as the SSA’s then-Deputy Chief of Station and former Acting Chief of Station at the South African Embassy in Washington, DC.
In February 2024, FBI agents monitored a meeting between Anyamba, the intelligence officer and another individual associated with the South African government. The group first met at a restaurant in Knoxville before moving to a nearby hotel.
On 7 November 2024, FBI agents intercepted Anyamba before the planned meeting in Knoxville and seized a laptop computer that she was carrying.
While these events were unfolding, Anyamba was also applying for a US government security clearance that would have allowed her access to classified information.
As part of the process, she completed the standard SF-86 security questionnaire. Prosecutors said she falsely declared that she had no ongoing contact with foreign nationals and had not been in contact with representatives of a foreign government during the previous seven years.
Commenting on the case, US Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said protecting the laboratory remained a priority. “Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a uniquely important Department of Energy facility,” Hamilton said.
“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.”
FBI Nashville Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly said that Anyamba knowingly acted as an agent of a foreign country, which placed national security at risk.
He added that the FBI and its partners “will continue to work together to review intelligence and investigate threats to our national security in order to protect our citizens from foreign and domestic attacks.”
Joshua D. Martineau, Deputy Director of Counterintelligence at the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, said the outcome demonstrated “the benefits of the strong relationship between DOE Counterintelligence and the FBI Agent in the Lab program.”
Daily Maverick asked the deputy government spokesperson, William Baloyi, to comment on the sentencing and replied that there was “no comment”.
