Spy wars rock SSA
No end in sight to turf war between spy agency’s Muofhe and Jafta
The State Security Agency (SSA) has been rocked by tensions between the agency’s domestic head advocate Sam Muofhe and acting director-general Loyiso Jafta following a fallout over a television interview that Muofhe allegedly considered to be a trap.
The refusal by Muofhe to take part in the interview, which he believes was organised by Jafta, appears to be at the heart of the raging cold war between this country’s two top spies.
Sunday World can reveal that in early November last year, Muofhe, a key ally of President Cyril Ramaphosa, refused to be interviewed on camera by ENCA at the agency’s headquarters, Musanda, in Pretoria over allegations of falsifying qualifications.
Sources in the agency said it was not the tradition of spy organisations to allow media on their premises – an argument that partly informed Muofhe’s decision.
It has also emerged that the controversial matter of Muofhe’s qualifications has also intensified the silent tug of war between the two security heavyweights. Muofhe believes allegations that he faked his qualifications part of a broader plan to dislodge him from the agency and weaken Ramaphosa.
On Tuesday, Muofhe gave the inspector-general of intelligence Setlhomamaru Dintwe 14 days to retract and apologise – or face legal action – for a statement he made to ENCA, also in November last year, that he was under investigation for allegedly falsifying qualifications.
“The records of our client’s admission as an advocate are publicly available at the high court. Our client has obtained degrees from the universities in South Africa and it does not take much effort to verify this with them,” Muofhe’s lawyer Mongezi Ntanga said.
“What is distressing is that you could simply have contacted our client who could have facilitated your investigations without you having to appear on a television platform and repeating and propagating falsehoods,” Ntanga said.
The turf war between Muofhe and Jafta has been attributed to a recommendation by former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi that the agency do away with its directors-general system and revert to the old structure of just having heads of the domestic and foreign branch. Ramaphosa is expected to get rid of Jafta’s position.
A source close to Muofhe said intelligence outfits rarely allowed media on their premises. “As the accounting officer, why did he [Jafta] allow the journalists to enter the premises. Intelligence organisations globally don’t allow media on their premises. The policy is that no one goes to Musanda,” the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
Sunday World also understands that Jafta’s testimony at the Zondo Commission that some judges were paid by the agency has widened the schism between the two officials. Jafta is said to not have consulted State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo and Muofhe when he went to testify at the commission. “The agency has no evidence that judges or a judge was paid by the agency. This is a serious issue, that is why the president had to step in. Up until the SSA comes clean on the allegations of payment of judges, judges are suspect. This thing is a constitutional crisis,” an SSA insider said.
Ramaphosa used his weekly letter on Monday to express his concerns over the attacks on the judiciary.
SSA spokesperson Mava Scott told us: “Please note that we elect not to respond to your questions due to our own internal protocols.”