The past year revealed a number of interesting cases involving spies or spooks in South Africa. Jacob Zuma, or should we call him Teflon Man, because he has danced his way out many sticky situations, revealed the names of two ANC leaders at the Zondo Commission who he said were spies of the apartheid government, and he said he had more names. The SABC admitted that it engaged spooks to look for people who were leaking company information to the media; the Public Protector was handed a piece of paper by the State Security Service on the South Africa Reserve Bank report and there was the case of the spy that vanished. Silence Dlomo, as he is known in spook circles disappeared from his plum job as a diplomat in Japan when he was recalled and re-surfaced months later when he called in ‘sick’. There are other stories featuring spies which gives the impression that there are many eyes out there watching and surveying. It feels a bit like the apartheid era. It appears that the only people who were not spied upon were the Guptas. It emerged at the Zondo Commission in November that spy bosses were ordered by Zuma to stop their investigation into his pals, the Gupta brothers. Chuck Stephens from the Desmond Tutu Centre for Leadership takes a tongue-in-the cheek look at the level of distrust in government circles and it seems that the moral of the story is that the enemy is hiding within. – Linda van Tilburg
Apocryphal MINUTES of a Security Cluster Meeting
By Chuck Stephens*
In attendance were the ministers of Justice, Defence, Police and State Security. As well as their vice-ministers.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Justice, in the custom always observed that each meeting is chaired by a different minister – in rotation.
The minister of State Security raised a point of order. She asked why the police minister did not remove his hat, at the door. She said that in Africa, only women keep their hats on when inside. The vice-minister of police cited Salva Kiir, a state president who always wears his hat.
The minister of Defence asked if the meeting room had been checked by sniffer dogs, and suggested that they should also check any hats worn in the meeting.
Also read: SSA insider spills beans, names those tapped, exposes Mahlobo
The minister of Justice read a letter of complaint from the Chief Justice, who claimed that he himself was under surveillance. The minister of State Security replied that there was no order authorising his surveillance, but that she still had almost 200 spies on salary whose activities are top secret, and unknown even to her.
She asked the chair to redirect the question to his Correctional Services commissioner, who started the Principal Agent Network while he was at the SSA and could still be receiving intel from his cronies.
The minister of Police reminded those present that one of his predecessors had been spied on too. Not while he was Police minister, but previously, when he was Sports minister.
The minister of State Security said that one team of spooks is always on the look-out for match-fixing, so this was routine.
The first item on the agenda was how to overcome factionalism, to streamline the work of the Security Cluster. The minister of Police complained that not only are there divisive factions within specific agencies like the Hawks, vying for control, but that the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing. Sometimes investigators from different police agencies clash right at the crime scene. Just like on TV when the FBI clashes with local police units.
The minister of Defence explained that we used to have an army, a navy and an air force, because there are different theatres if warfare. But then we realised that the Enemy is one. So there is a need for coordinated action, including the new Special Investigative Unit in the NPA.
The chair complained that there is too much distance between investigators and prosecutors. He pointed out that the Scorpions of old had a great track record because they could do both. This was why the new NDPP has insisted on having her own investigative powers.
The minister of Defence asked why the spooks are spying on the good guys as well as the bad guys. Like the Chief Justice and the Sports minister. He compared that to “friendly fire”.
The minister of State Security lamented that while she was in position, she was not in control. There are strong rogue elements within her sphere that answer to no one, or to someone who is hidden in the shadows. They are more interested in self-preservation than public service.
The minister of Defence said that on the battlefield, the generals need to be in command.
The second agenda item was how to expand the absorptive capacity of Correctional Services, and if there are enough orange jumpsuits for the incoming crowd after the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture is over. The NDPP is promising that there will be arrests and convictions, and the scale of the fiasco is becoming evident.
The minister of Police moved that bunk beds be installed in every prison cell, to double the capacity of existing infrastructure. The minister of Defence seconded the motion. The vice-minister of Police introduced a proviso – that only people of the same gender be guarded in each cell. The minister of State Security asked what to do when the prisoner is not sure of their gender identity?
The third and last agenda item was the backlog of cases in the courts. The handbook on Stalingrad Defence Strategies has become a best-seller, and the courts are clogged with applications for condonations and rescissions. Magistrates are now invalidating the decisions of other magistrates! The Magistrates Commission can’t keep up with complaints of malpractice coming in on its hotline. But appeals take so long that criminal syndicates find it easier to just buy magisterial decisions. They just go to the next town and buy an invalidation, like the Vatican used to sell indulgences. Over 50 magistrates have been charged with corruption to date! He asked for advice.
There was a prolonged silence. The minister of Defence then stated that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia MBS may have found the solution. When the abuse of Justice brings the whole system into disrepute – the empire strikes back with five death sentences in one case. Disproportionate maybe, but a deterrent to be sure.
The answer to the Stalingrad Defence Strategy is called the Full Court Press.
The moral of the story is: The Enemy is within.
- Chuck Stephens, Executive Director of the Desmond Tutu Centre for Leadership.
