Cape Town – The position of inspector general of intelligence has been vacant since advocate Faith Radebe left the post more than 10 months ago.
The call for the urgent finalisation of this appointment has been brought into sharp focus in recent months because of concerns spy agencies are increasingly falling victim to rogue behaviour.
The most spectacular breaches made public were the theft of several classified documents by an international media corporation and the theft of more than R17 million in local and foreign currency from a safe at the headquarters of the State Security Agency in Pretoria. In both cases serving operatives of the agencies were implicated.
The inspector general of intelligence is appointed in terms of the Intelligence Oversight Act (40 of 1994) in order to carry out civilian oversight of the Intelligence Services.
There are also hundreds of cases involving illegal surveillance, telephone tapping, burglary, and document manipulation where secret state operatives are suspected of involvement. The latest of these complaints have been lodged by high-profile businessman Saki Macazoma, unionist Zwelinzima Vavi and Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande.
A former high-ranking official also recently expressed his concerns about the inspector general’s office having no leadership. “The way things are now with the services, sadly we have not put in place the right checks and balances to prevent the rot from setting in,” he said.
Parliamentary spokesman Luzuko Jacobs said the matter had lapsed since the last sitting of Parliament and has “not been revived since”.
Even the State Security Agency is said to have raised concerns. “We would appreciate it if parliament can conclude it as soon as possible because the inspector general is responsible for all intelligence services, including the police and defence intelligence,” agency spokes-man Brian Dube said.
His concern was echoed by Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, who said there was a need for an independent office to lodge complaints about wrongdoing by the secret agencies. “There is a vacuum, and this is concerning because it is the responsibility of that office to hold everyone to account,” Burger said.
Advocacy group Right2Know said it was worried the government was “deliberately dragging its feet over the appointment of this critical position which is necessary to keep spies in check and to ensure they do not engage in activities that undermine our democratic rights”.
The front runner for the position is the candidate put forward by the ANC, Cecil Burgess, the former chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, but his chance of securing the required two-thirds support appears unlikely as he is widely slated for championing the so-called “secrecy bills”.
It is also understood other candidates include advocate Jay Govender, the inspector general’s chief legal adviser, and Imtiaz Fazel, the former chief operating officer.
Weekend Argus
