Bizarre SSA espionage investigation is a state sponsored political hit which must be investigated by the IGI

6 March 2015

That fact that the State Security Agency (SSA) has confirmed an investigation has been launched into allegations of espionage against Advocate Thuli Madonsela, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Julius Malema and Joseph Mathunjwa is bizarre.

All the paranoia, bottled up inside the ruling party, and the securocrats who serve the ruling party inside the SSA, seems to be spilling over as the pressure mounts on President Jacob Zuma.

There is absolutely no evidence that any of the individuals named are a threat or potential to national security and therefore they cannot be legitimate targets for the SSA.

The African Inteligence (sic) Leaks blog, which has been used as a pretext for the investigation, appears to be a lunatic fringe blog, dedicated to peddling conspiracy theories, and which cannot even spell "intelligence".

The bizarre and unfounded claims made on the blog should simply have been dismissed by the SSA.

But instead the ramblings on a blog have been given a status they don't deserve and twisted into "allegations". 

And the "allegations" have, in turn, been used as a pretext to launch an investigation by the SSA.

The investigation amounts to a state-sponsored political hit designed to delegitimize critics of the ruling party and deflect attention away from the crisis in the SSA.

What the SSA does not seem to realize is that its legal mandate was recently amended and specifically excludes "lawful political activity, protest, activism and dissent" as set out in the amended National Strategic Intelligence Act, 1994.

I will, therefore, be writing to Advocate Faith Radebe, the Inspector-General of Intelligence, requesting her to investigate, in terms of the Intelligence Oversight Act, 1994, whether the investigation into allegations of espionage complies with the Constitution, policy, national legislation and regulations applicable to the SSA.

In the end, it is now clear that the SSA is turning into a "Stasi" which cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction or between a national security threat and a political threat to President Jacob Zuma.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of State Security, March 5 2015

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