In the clandestine business of national intelligence, the South African Constitution ensures there is civilian oversight in the form of an office to hold the country’s spooks to account. The office is that of the Inspector-General of Intelligence, who for the past four years has been Dr Setlhomamaru Isaac Dintwe.
It was Dintwe who appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, during Tuesday’s evening sitting.
Dressed in a three-piece checked suit replete with tie pin and pocket square, Dintwe appeared eager to air his experience after four frustrating years at the helm.
First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
Here are a few eye-watering, mind-blowing take-outs from this week’s hearings into the State Security Agency (SSA) at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Zondo.
The commission heard evidence from Dr Sydney Mufamadi, chair of the High Level Panel Review into the SSA; Loyiso Jafta, acting director-general of the SSA; and Ms K, an investigator with the current iteration of the SSA’s Project Veza, aimed at uncovering wide-scale malfeasance at the SSA. The commission heard that:
Thulani Dlomo, Jacob Zuma’s personal spy, unlawfully established a Central Directorate for Special Operations (CDSO) within the SSA, unaccountable to anyone but the President. Special Ops had access to limitless secret funds for a variety of propaganda projects targeting the judiciary, media, trade unions, civil society, NGOs, academia, and ANC and government officials perceived as potential “enemies of