R2K condemns Parliament’s “secret process” to appoint the Inspector General of Intelligence
R2K condemns Parliament’s secret process to appoint the next Inspector General of Intelligence.
Parliament’s intelligence oversight body, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, is tasked with interviewing candidates for Inspector General of Intelligence, which is one of South Africa’s only oversight mechanisms to prevent abuses of power in the intelligence structures. In January, R2K wrote twice to the Committee chairperson, the Hon. Connie September, to call for an open process, highlighting the Constitutional need for maximum transparency, as well meaningful public participation.
Despite this, on Sunday it was reported that the Committee had opted to conduct the process in secret, despite the fact that previous candidates for the post were interviewed in open meetings
We also note that the Committee offered a six-day window, now closed, for public input on the 8 short-listed candidates for the position – without providing their CVs or any information about their experience or background.
R2K has now taken the issue to the presiding officers of Parliament: we have written to the Speaker of the National Assembly and Chairperson of the NCOP to insist on an open process. We have also called for a proper timeline for the appointment process, as well as CVs of the eight candidates who have been shortlisted.
The Inspector General is a public ombud with a mandate to investigate abuses of power in the intelligence structures at the request of any member of the public.
How can the Committee expect the public to put their faith in a candidate who was interviewed and selected in a secret process?
How does the Committee justify their decision to recruit the IG in secret, when the previous IG was interviewed in public meetings?
It has never been more important in our democratic dispensation for South Africa to have independent, transparent, public oversight on the intelligence structures – and that must start with an open appointment process. We call on Parliament to open the meetings!
For comment, please contact:
R2K National spokesperson: Murray Hunter (Cell: 072 672 5468)
R2K National Organiser: Siviwe Mdoda (Cell: 082 368 5096)
S59 of the Constitution states that, ‘the National Assembly must facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the Assembly and its committees.’ S59 also states that should the media and the public be excluded from a sitting of a committee, that decision must be ‘reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society.’
