Panel finishes state security review report
The special review panel into problems at the State Security Agency (SSA) will present its report to President Cyril Ramaphosa in due course, and should be given space to do its job, the Presidency said yesterday.
The Presidency said it had noted weekend media reports alleging internal conflict within the SSA, the Presidency said in a statement.
The SSA is tasked with providing government with intelligence on domestic and foreign threats or potential threats to national stability, the constitutional order, and the safety and well-being of South Africans, it said.
In view of this mandate and in view of concerns over governance and other problems that had accumulated over time, Ramaphosa appointed a high-level review panel in June 2018 to assess the mandate, capacity, and organisational integrity of the SSA.
Chaired by former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi, the 10-member panel was mandated, among other terms of reference, to identify all material factors that allowed for the development of some of the current problems within the agency so that appropriate measures could be instituted to prevent a recurrence, the presidency said.
The panel had been established to assist in ensuring a responsible and accountable national intelligence capability for the country in line with the Constitution and relevant legislation.
“While the review process unfolds, political responsibility for the SSA remains with Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba and management and staff at the agency are expected to conduct themselves with the requisite responsibility, respect, and integrity.
“The review panel will in due course present its report to President Ramaphosa who has called for this process to be undertaken with the thoroughness demanded in this sensitive environment but also with the expeditiousness required to put an end to longstanding challenges. This process must be allowed to run its course,” the Presidency said.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Letsatsi-Duba had ordered a re-vetting of all intelligence officials in a bid to root out spies accused of looting the slush fund of up to R1 billion.
But insiders at the SSA said “the exercise is nothing but a purge of spooks deemed loyal to former director general Arthur Fraser and, by extension, former president Jacob Zuma”, the newspaper reported.
Letsatsi-Duba took the drastic decision when staff revolted at plans to change the management and reporting lines at the agency.
A forum that represents all intelligence and non-intelligence staff has written a memo urging employees to reject the structure, the Sunday Times reported. – ANA