State Security Minister cannot be allowed to dodge urgent question on bizarre espionage investigation

16 March 2015

The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Lechesa Tsenoli, has turned down my request to put an urgent question to Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, on the bizarre investigation into claims made about Advocate Thuli Madonsela and other political figures on the African Inteligence (sic) Leaks blog, being conducted by the State Security Agency (SSA).

In a letter, dated 12 March 2015, Deputy Speaker Tsenoli informed me that my request to put through an urgent question, in terms of National Assembly Rule 112, on Wednesday 18 March 2015, had been turned down on the grounds that there were other means to deal with the matter in the near future.

The effect of the decision to turn down my urgent question is to "firewall" the Minister from responding to hard questions about the bizarre espionage investigation being conducted by the SSA.

We must not forget that: 

The Minister's public statement implied that Advocate Thuli Madonsela and other political figures were being investigated for espionage by the SSA and

The Minister's public statement did irreparable damage to democratic institutions and whatever the intention amounted to state-sponsored political hit by the SSA.

The Minister made a public statement about the bizarre espionage investigation, and he should be held accountable for his public statement about the bizarre espionage, in public. 

We have therefore written to the Deputy Speaker, Lechesa Tsenoli, requesting him to review the decision on the grounds that there are no other means of dealing with this matter in the near future. 

This is because: 

The Minister rarely provides replies to written questions preferring to refer and bury them in the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI); and

The matter is unlikely to dealt with in the near future by the JSCI; and

Even of the matter is dealt with in the near future it will be dealt with behind closed doors by the JSCI.

We are not going to sit back and allow the Minister to be let off the hook and dodge being questioned on the bizarre espionage investigation this week in Parliament.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of State Security, March 16 2015

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