DA won’t be bullied by Baleka into backing Burgess

14 March 2016

This afternoon I received a letter from the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, calling on the opposition to support former ANC MP and ‘Secrecy Bill’ author, Cecil Burgess’ appointment as South Africa’s new Inspector-General of Intelligence (IGI).

Wednesday’s scheduled vote on the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) report recommending Burgess’ appointment will be the ANC’s second attempt to have it passed. Attempts by the Speaker, as someone with a duty to remain impartial when presiding over Parliament’s affairs, to coerce the opposition into supporting the ANC’s candidate is highly inappropriate. She clearly has a bias and should recuse herself from Wednesday vote.

South Africa has been without an IGI for over a year and there is a great deal of pressure on Parliament to finalises the recommendation process. However, we cannot let this compromise our Constitutional duty to ensure that a fit and proper person is put forward, not another ANC cadre mandated to aide President Zuma’s continued campaign of state capture.

Known as the architect of the 'Secrecy Bill' and author of a “whitewashed” report on “Nkandlagate”, Burgess simply cannot be trusted with the transparency and accountability of our country’s Crime Intelligence, Defence Intelligence and other state security apparatuses - which have already been abused for political purposes both inside and outside of the ANC.

Further, the ANC’s refusal to restart the recommendation process and work with the opposition to find a suitable candidate whom all parties can support is to be blamed for the delayed appointment and compromised the accountability in our intelligence services.

The DA’s opposition to Burgess’s proposed appointment is clear, and we will not buckle to Mbete’s bullying. 

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 14 March 2016