DA submits proposed amendments to the "Spy Bill"
Today the Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted proposed amendments to the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill which is aimed at completing the establishment of the State Security Agency (SSA).
The General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill ("Spy Bill") provides for the consolidation of the component parts of the civilian intelligence services - including most importantly the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), South African Secret Service (SASS) and the National Communication Centre - into a single centralized SSA.
The formation of the SSA is a major departure from existing intelligence policy set out in the White Paper on Intelligence (1995).
Existing policy makes provision for at least two civilian intelligence services, which was referred to in the White Paper on Intelligence (1995) as "the most significant departure from the old dispensation".
The establishment of the SSA therefore takes us backwards to a national intelligence structure similar to the Apartheid-era National Intelligence Service and the Bureau of State Security.
We have therefore proposed several key amendments aimed at:
- excluding lawful political activity, advocacy, protest and dissent from the legislative mandate of the SSA;
- creating a new criminal offence which provides for a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years should any official unlawfully and intentionally gather intelligence on lawful political activity, advocacy and dissent; and
- ensuring that the collection and monitoring of foreign signals intelligence is subject to the provision of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communications-related Information Act, 2002 (Act No. 70 of 2002), most importantly the provision which provides for a designated judge to authorize the interception and monitoring of communication.
The SSA has reportedly regularly become embroiled in domestic politics: these amendments are therefore imperative to create democratic breathing space in South Africa.
Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, March 12 2013
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