Infighting cripples intelligence agencies
CONCERNS have been raised about the State Security Agency’s ability (SSA) to connect the dots in the recent attacks on two mosques and to pre-empt external threats against South Africa because of infighting within the agency.
The country has seen an unprecedented a spate of cash-in-transit heists, mosque attacks in Cape Town and Durban and serious crimes which have all called into question the ability of crime intelligence services to trace and apprehend the perpetrators.
Gareth Newham, senior crime researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said the country’s intelligence services were well-resourced and trained “but good people are being tripped up by leaders that are not doing their work”.
“These leaders have been embroiled in political matters that have taken the attention away from dealing with serious work against crime. The fact that there is also no accountability further entrenches the bad level of services.
“We have seen intelligence abused by former president Jacob Zuma and not being utilised to the benefit of our people,” he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a high-powered panel of experts in intelligence, finance and academia to clean-up the SSA following allegations of misuse of millions of rand in state funds.
But Newham said the problem lay not with money or resources, but with officials who were fulfilling political mandates.
“If we had people who fill constitutional mandates we would have a better situation here. We are spending billions on policing and intelligence agencies, and what do we get for it… a sharp rise in cash-in-transit heists, a sharp rise in violent crimes, a sharp rise in car jackings and business robberies?
“We have seen sharp rises in all serious crimes, yet we are spending billions. That is the problem,” he said.
“Our intelligence has literally fallen flat because of corrupt leaders and those politicking. That is why we have gangsters walking into airports shooting at each other and radical extremist groups roaming our country,” he said.
Zehir Omar, a human rights lawyer, said the state had already failed in tackling extremism after the two attacks at the mosques.
“The notion that the person in the Malmesbury attack was crazy is nonsense. There is clearly a extreme group busy here. It is abnormal for a person to get up and slaughter another human being. That shows that hatred has been built up towards that human.
“The state has already failed us if two attacks like this have already occurred, coupled with other major crimes… No matter what resources the government employs, it will be difficult to deal with extreme groups because it is dependent on foreign workings,” he said.
During her Budget vote speech in May, State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba said: “We will conduct a review of the relevance of the training curriculum content of our Intelligence Academy so that we can assure ourselves that our officers receive the highest standard of training to ensure competence in fulfilling national security requirements.”
On terrorism, she said although there had been no major terror attack in the country, citizens should continue to be vigilant and not lower their guard. “We will also continue the partnerships that we have established with a number of communities and civil society structures and will continue to have extensive engagements with international partners in our quest to improve co-operation on these matters.”
Brian Fikani, communications head at the department, downplayed these concerns, saying the mosque attacks, along with other serious crimes, were being investigated.
The Muslim Judicial Council’s Mishka Darries said many rumours had been spread regarding the motive for the attacks.
“We humbly request that we (along with the media) do not jump to conclusions… Hawks and SAPS need to finalise their investigation… I am certain they will share their findings as soon as possible.”