Security clearances not sorted

Ramaphosa asked to step in

The state capture inquiry is due to kick off today but could face major delays due to the lacklustre attitude of State Security Agency (SSA) staff who are yet to issue state clearance certificates as they are “not taking this exercise seriously and making lots of excuses”.

In a last-bid attempt to get the impasse resolved, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene to ensure his commission staff obtain the security clearances needed to gain legal access to classified and confidential information and avoid “unacceptable delays”.

While SSA maintains that it is doing everything to ensure officials get clearance, its spokesperson Brian Dube said the agency had put processes in place “to ensure that all members of the commission discharge their responsibilities, notwithstanding the challenges, some of which have been beyond our control”.

“From the 77 cases received, 98% requests for provisional clearances have been dealt with. We are currently busy with upgrades and recent cases,” he said.

Dube, however, admitted that: “It should be noted that we are experiencing challenges from some of the people we are dealing with, with some not taking this exercise seriously and making lots of excuses, thereby hindering the pace at which we would have liked to accelerate this effort.”

Commission secretary Dr Khotso de Wee has confirmed that Zondo wrote to Ramaphosa earlier this month requesting assistance.

“With regard to the security clearance process, to the best knowledge of the commission, the State Security Agency has not changed how it is dealing with the security clearance process since the chairperson wrote to the president at the beginning of August and asked for his intervention,” De Wee stated.

“In fact, the secretary of the commission has not been contacted by the State Security Agency to give him any feedback since the last media briefing towards the end of July. The issue remains unresolved and is unacceptably delaying the work of the commission.”

De Wee said the inquiry “is still on track for this month”.

Zondo first flagged the security clearance issue when he went to court last month to seek an extension of his commission’s time from six months to two years.

In the court application, which has already come under