ROGUE ELEMENTS IN STATE SECURITY A BIG THREAT
Media reports indicate top intelligence officers in the SSA are threatening to unseat the sitting president, writes Bantu Mniki
If our horrible plight as a country was only a result of inexperience in government, or maybe a lack of skill in leadership and such, the path to correction would be a matter of acknowledging this and learning from our mistakes.
However, this is far from the truth.
If media reports about a fightback from Zuma cohorts are anything to go by, then we are actually dealing with people who are actively fighting against this country.
The worst part of this conundrum is that most of these yet to be named persons are, in one way or another, associated with the same ruling party that is attempting a renewal.
At the same time, the people who speak renewal, like Cyril Ramaphosa, are part of the same ruling party that is complicit in our present predicament.
Whilst we like renewal, it is increasingly looking like an impossible task to base this renewal on the renewal of the horribly disfigured ANC.
The amount of rot the ANC presided over has severely damaged the party.
However, those at the centre of this horror are still mounting some sort of resistance against the elimination of the criminal networks established during the Zuma era.
We have known that our national intelligence was compromised and deeply involved in political battles at least for the past decade or so.
We have at times chewed at our nails nervously, knowing very well that our intelligence services are too preoccupied to actually help protect the country.
However, we did not fully appreciate the extent of the corruption and crime within the intelligence sector.
The decimation of our intelligence institutions is so thorough that it’s not difficult to imagine, it could have been carried out by teams of enemy agents.
But South Africa has no sworn enemies, at least I assume. I am sure though, if we did have enemies, they would have done their worst in the past decade or so, especially with such a politicised and ineffective intelligence sector.
The illegal activities exposed by the report into the State Security Agency (SSA) compiled by a panel led by Sydney Mufumadi are shocking.
Whilst we suspected such shenanigans from the Zumaled state apparatus, the glaring illegality of these activities shows the extent of his and his administration’s disrespect for law and the people of South Africa.
The involvement of the SSA in trying to prevent Ramaphosa from taking the ANC presidency is beyond the depravity we thought we knew.
The looting of funds meant to secure this country, with glaring impunity, zero accountability and great speed gives us a perspective on why South Africa is drowning in blood and lawlessness.
The conditions of lawlessness found in the corridors of intelligence are sadly found throughout our society.
“It is clear to the panel that the SSA’s special operations unit, especially under the watch of the member mentioned above [Dhlomo], was a law unto itself and directly served the political interests of the executive. It also undertook intelligence operations which were clearly unconstitutional and illegal.”
This is what the report says. These illegal activities were committed apparently in the service of Zuma, who was president of the ANC and the country.
It is a damning report whose only fitting response is the wholesale arrest and prosecution of all those involved.
These sort of crimes cannot be allowed to slide for any possible political reasons, if such reasons exists at all.
For one thing, it means we have no intelligence service to speak of. We are exposed.
It also means we are at the mercy of rogue intelligence operatives who have no allegiance to the constitution.
It means we are at the mercy of delinquents, if not outright criminals.
If we have people in the in- telligence sector, who can conspire to prevent a political candidate from successfully running for political office, it means these people are saboteurs of our legitimate political processes!
Media reports also indicate that there are top intelligence officers in the SSA who are threatening to unseat the sitting president.
Apparently this is because these dishonourable officers would prefer the lawlessness which prevailed at the SSA to the restructuring and renewal attempt which is taking place under Ramaphosa.
There are no fitting words to condemn this enough. The only fitting response really, is the wholesale arrest and prosecution of these enemies of our country.
Anything less is an invitation for South Africa to tumble down the last mile towards oblivion!
The looting of funds gives us a perspective on why South Africa is drowning in blood