William Cooper, the author of Behold a Pale Horse — the book on Aids that Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been circulating — is closely connected to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Cooper is often seen at Klan rallies, but denies being a member of the Klan himself, claiming he simply supports the “Christian” ethos of the cult. Speaking on his own radio station Cooper most recently claimed the KKK were “misunderstood” and encouraged “patriots” to join so as to be kept abreast of all the plots being hatched against American sovereignty.

The circulation of extracts from Cooper’s books sparked an extraordinary exchange between Tshabalala-Msimang and 702 radio host John Robbie this week. After questioning the minister on the book and on her stance on the link between HIV and Aids, the radio presenter said: “Go away. I cannot take that rubbish any longer. Can you believe it? … I have never in my life heard such rubbish.”

Robbie has shrugged off African National Congress calls on him to resign. Cooper is also the inventor of the “unified conspiracy theory” — a bizarre concept that explains everything from John F Kennedy’s assassination to Aids as a conspiracy between the CIA, the Jews, the Freemasons, aliens and secret societies operating since the Middle Ages.

Cooper, the leader of the Arizona Militia — a far-right-wing movement preparing to repel alien invaders — claims to have served in the United States Air Force as well as the United States Navy and to have had unlimited access to secret information. US government records show Cooper serving as the lowest grade of clerk in the navy. His functions would have amounted to little more than sweeping the floors where top secret meetings were held.

A trawl through US websites shows that he is most often described as a fraud, a liar and a charlatan. He is currently engaged in a war of words with Vietnam-era war hero Colonel Bo Gritz. Gritz claims Cooper’s theories are the work of a madman and cast aspersions on Gritz’s distinguished military career. Cooper in turn claims Gritz is a CIA stooge, a 32nd degree Freemason and a Zionist.

Cooper makes a fortune selling copies of his three books and charging the equivalent of R100 a head to those who wish to hear his lectures. His latest money-spinner is a top-secret video of the Kennedy assassination that he recently found. The R100 video shows Kennedy’s driver turn around and shoot the president in the head. The weapon used is not a pistol, but “a gas pressure device developed by the aliens from the Trilateral Commission”. At least that is what Cooper claims. The US television stations he hawked the tape to claim it was a poor-quality fake using chunks of the famous Zapruder film.

Cooper maintains Kennedy was killed as he was about to blow the whistle on how aliens had invaded Earth and were in the process of taking over. The Jason Society — one of more than three dozen secret societies mentioned in Cooper’s books — had just launched the Galileo probe mission, and Kennedy’s whistle-blowing could have ruined the scheme, so Cooper’s theory goes. The Galileo mission was not an attempt to examine Jupiter, but a secret attempt to change the universe.

The Jason Society — a shadowy cult made up of Jewish bankers, Catholics and drug lords and presided over by Satan — had hatched a plot to ignite the atmosphere of Jupiter using a hydrogen bomb hidden on board the Galileo probe. Cooper’s theory is that this would give Earth two suns — exactly the same solar system the alien invaders have back home. Soon after this event — which was to have happened last year — the aliens would invade Earth. But for this to happen the races that could “cause trouble” needed to be wiped out.

Cooper claims the aliens decided homosexuals, blacks and Hispanics were most likely to upset the plans for an alien invasion. As a result they were targeted with Aids. Once their populations are decimated the aliens will then invade Earth — and the cure for Aids will be made known. Cooper believes his Arizona Militia — who engage in regular training exercises and festivities with the KKK — will be the only humans left who are willing to fight off the alien invasion.

According to Cooper the best thing we can do is stock up on canned foods — and buy an assault rifle. The aliens are coming; forget about Aids.