This Day in History: August 24, 1978
Additional Date: August 24, 1978
After rumours of mismanagement of funds by the Department of Information, Prime Minister B.J. Vorster announced that while Dr. C.P. Mulder would remain Minister of Plural Relations and Development, the Bureau for National and International Communications (BNIC), which replaced the Department of Information on 15 June, 1978, would be placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as from 1 September 1978. Vorster and Mulder were later implicated in the 'information scandal' about attempts of the Department of Information to influence international and local public opinion by shifting R64m belonging to the Defence budget to buy international and local newspapers in a propaganda war.