Johannesburg - Civil society organisation, Right2Know has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo to name and shame some of the State Security Agency’s (SSA) agents who fuelled the violent and destructive protests in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
The campaign which initially erupted under the guise of Free Jacob Zuma campaign turned ugly when hundreds of protesters blocked national roads in KwaZulu-Natal and set alight trucks and vehicles belonging to private individuals.
Several malls, bottle stores and other small businesses were also destroyed. The chaos spread to Gauteng where it affected areas in Joburg’s eastern suburbs and later to other parts of the province. Several malls were also destroyed in Gauteng.
On Tuesday, Minister Dlodlo took the nation by surprise when she announced that some of the SSA operatives could be linked to the trail of destruction and she also hinted about the identities of the suspects behind the destruction and looting of property.
Now, Right2Know wants the government to reveal the identities of the operatives.
“We understand that former State Security agents and some senior ANC leaders are being investigated as possible instigators to the mayhem, as was admitted by State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo. The minister also told South Africans that the intelligence services knew that something would happen, but law enforcement responses to the unrest prove or paint a completely different reality.
“We know that this country’s intelligence services are in shambles because both President Ramaphosa and the minister failed to implement the recommendations of the High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency to clean up the spooks. We did mention that these rogue securocrats are a threat to our democracy and they must be dealt with accordingly,” Right2Know said.
In their call to Ramaphosa, issued in March 2019, R2k asked him to implement all of the recommendations of the High-Level Review Panel led by former minister Sydney Mufamadi on the State Security Agency.
They asked Ramaphosa to specifically and immediately, implement the Panel’s recommendation that the Secrecy Bill be scrapped and that, “the president instructs the appropriate law enforcement bodies, oversight institutions and internal disciplinary bodies to investigate all manifest breaches of the law, regulations and other prescripts in the SSA … with a view to instituting, where appropriate, criminal and/or disciplinary prosecutions.
“In particular … the establishment of a multidisciplinary investigation team to deal with the criminal investigations and that a private advocate is appointed to conduct the internal disciplinary hearings”.
At the time, R2K said: “We firmly believe that these rogue securocrats are a threat to our democracy and they must be dealt with accordingly. As such, we demand that those who engaged in these criminal activities and gross abuses are named, investigated and disciplined and/or prosecuted where appropriate.”
baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za
Political Bureau