Daily Dispatch Be afraid, be very afraid
IT WAS not that long ago that the state security apparatus in South Africa got away with murder. Literally. People portrayed as enemies of the state were subjected to bugging, burglaries, detentions, torture, disappearances, and assassination or – in the parlance of the day – “permanent removal from society”.
The lack of accountability of the state security apparatus led to the birth of organisations such as the now notorious death squad group, the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB). Its state funding was opaque and its existence unknown until the media exposed its activities.
The lack of legislative or any other form of oversight over budgets or actions of the state security apparatus led directly to abuses and later gave the likes of then state president FW de Klerk deniability when it came to dirty tricks perpetrated by the state.
Our current state security minister, David Mahlobo, is creating a similar environment of fear and loathing in which the birth of comparable state-sponsored dirty tricks operations might seem entirely justified to an increasingly paranoid state.
Discourse such as that of Mahlobo suggesting that the media, NGOs, the opposition and the judiciary are in cahoots with foreign actors to undermine the government mimic that of this government’s apartheid predecessor.
Given our history and current developments, it is hardly surprising that so many suspect state involvement in the series of odd burglaries that have taken place. People should question whether it could be a coincidence that the theft of computers containing sensitive personal information of judges from the office of the Chief Justice of the country happened just days after two judgments that deeply hurt two of President Jacob Zuma’s closest allies. The Constitutional Court’s damning judgment placed the blame squarely on social development minister Bathabile Dlamini for the crisis faced by the SA Social Security Agency. In the same week, the courts set aside the appointment of Zuma toady Berning Ntlemeza as head of the Hawks.
One can also go back to the strange armed robbery in which more than a dozen old computers were stolen from the Helen Suzman Foundation last year. This happened shortly after the foundation resorted to court on the Ntlemeza issue.
And now former Sassa head Zane Dangor’s home has also been broken into, but nothing was taken. He says the message is loud and clear – keep your mouth shut.
If there is state involvement, Zuma cannot shrug off culpability. A president who stands supinely by while his security minister trades in lies – effectively accusing even the judiciary of treason – must have an agenda. And it is not a good one.
Former ANC stalwart Ronnie Kasrils warned not so long ago: “I think people need to be afraid.”
He is right. If parliament doesn’t ramp up its oversight over our state security agency, including its budget and its operations, history has shown us that we should indeed be very afraid.