Karima Brown And Amy Musgrave
30 July 2007
Johannesburg — PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki yesterday commented for the first time on a probe into allegations that Jacob Zuma was in cahoots with African leaders to overthrow the government, saying it had not affected his relationship with the African National Congress (ANC) deputy president.
The two men are rivals in the ruling party's presidential leadership race, which has engulfed the country's security agencies. The casualties include former National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha, who was sacked by Mbeki after he was named as the mastermind behind the recent hoax e-mail saga.
The latest casualty in this battle could be the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions), which has been investigating Zuma for nearly a decade.
It has emerged from a probe into the "Special Browse" report that the Scorpions unit, which is not supposed to have intelligence capacity, first compiled a dossier on the allegations against Zuma, which were provided by dodgy sources instead of taking the information to the appropriate intelligence agencies.
The probe into the "Special Browse" report is likely to result in a tightening of the screws on the already embattled unit, which uses private security agencies for its investigations. In terms of the investigation, the Scorpions will no longer be allowed to contract private security without doing the necessary vetting. This will seriously hamper their investigative capacity and force them to co- operate closely with the National Intelligence Agency, crime intelligence in the police and the South African Secret Service.
The findings will also provide ammunition to detractors of the Scorpions who suggest that the unit lose its independence and be incorporated into the police.
The South African Communist Party (SACP), which asked Parliament's joint standing committee on intelligence to investigate the matter, has said the probe into the report proves that some state institutions are being abused.
Supporters of Zuma have consistently accused the Scorpions and the National Prosecuting Authority of conducting a campaign against the ANC deputy president to prevent him from succeeding Mbeki. The president said yesterday that he had not spoken to Zuma about the finding of the investigation, nor had he been in contact with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his Angolan counterpart, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, over the "Special Browse" report. The two men were mentioned as co- conspirators in the report.
Siyabonga Cwele, who chairs the committee, confirmed yesterday that he was briefed on the investigation. "Our approach is that you cannot have private security agencies (involved in) intelligence because they are not subjected to the rigorous oversight required by state intelligence."
The law required domestic intelligence agencies to get permission from a judge to intercept mail and phone calls.
"I have never heard any private security agency ask for permission from a judge to do this," he said.
Frank Chikane, director- general in the Presidency, said at the weekend that the objective of the report was to weaken the government, and destabilise the ruling party. He also confirmed that officials of some state organs were involved in exchanging sensitive information with "information peddlers" who were former security agents now in the private intelligence business.
"Affected departments shall cease to use external security services or individuals without the prescribed vetting requirement," Chikane said.
He said a number of southern African countries had fallen prey to these information peddlers. "The investigation also established that the intelligence activities of some of these persons and the methods used are illegal or border on illegality."
The government promised to act against anyone who had broken the law, but refused to name the culprits.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which went public with the "Special Browse" document after it was leaked to the federation, has called for those involved in compiling the report to be identified.
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