Minister David Mahlobo: State Security Dept Budget Vote 2015/16
5 May 2015
Honourable Chairperson of the Session
Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, Hon. Connie September
Honourable Ministers
Deputy Minister of the State Security Agency, Hon. Cde. Ellen Molekane and other Deputy Ministers
Deputy Chief Whip of the ANC, Hon. Doris Dlakude
Chief Whip of the JSCI, Hon. JJ Skhosana
Honourable Members of Parliament and National Council of Provinces
Honourable Members JSCI
Director-General of the State Security Agency, Ambassador Sonto Kudjoe, the entire SSA Leadership and members
The Auditor-General of RSA, Mr TK Makwetu
The National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) of RSA, Mr M Nxasana
The Outgoing Inspector-General
Veterans of the intelligence service
Leadership of ANC, Leagues, Alliance and Progressive Youth Alliance
Representatives of religious, business, academia and think tank
Mahlobo and Molekane families
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
Fellow South Africans,
Introduction
Honourable Chairperson and Members, few days ago during the celebration of 21 years of freedom and democracy, H.E. President Zuma implored us into action as a nation to deal with the vestiges of colonialism and apartheid.
The brutalities of the past such as detentions without trial, disappearances of our people, deaths in detentions, hanging of those opposed to apartheid, imprisonment, exile, massacres, assassinations, forced removals, banishments, the Group Areas Act and many more laws that made the lives of black people unbearable are testimonies that our freedom was never free.
This year we are celebrating 60 years of the Freedom Charter - the people’s collective vision for our future.
As a country and her people we are indeed on course in creating a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society as envisioned in the Freedom Charter and our constitution. However we are the first to admit that more still needs to be done in the construction of this national democratic society.
Over the last few weeks we have witnessed incidents of major concern to the life of our South African society.
We cannot claim to be truly free when insidious and blatant racism still exist in our society; we cannot claim to be truly free when racism still rears its ugly head in our institutions of higher learning, in the media, in the private and public sectors, in the boardrooms and with the attacks on foreign nationals that we observed in some communities in recent weeks
As South Africans, we should refuse to be part of the unnecessary attacks on innocent people, merely because they happen to be foreigners.
We know very well that it is incorrect to argue, as some among us do, that crime is committed mainly by non-South Africans. Even if we suspect or have evidence that some people are engaged in crime, we should work with the police so that these criminals are arrested.
This applies equally to South Africans and non-South Africans because a criminal is a criminal, irrespective of nationality, and should be made to face the full might of the law. If indeed some foreigners are involved in crime, we cannot mete out collective punishment to all foreigners because of the criminal deeds of the bad few individuals.
We are pleased by the steps taken by President Zuma and his able leadership in ending the violence and putting measures in place for sustainable solutions on matters of migration and concerns raised by our citizens from issues of unemployment, economic opportunities and crime.
We also acknowledge the Ministers, Premiers, MECs, Mayors, Members of Parliament and Councillors who have worked tirelessly to bring the situation under control.
We commend members of the intelligence community working with other law enforcement agencies by restoring calm. Further, we are heartened by our members’ contribution in Operation Fiela to rid of our communities of havens for criminals and the response by our communities is encouraging us to do more.
Our Milestones and Priorities
This year marks twenty years of intelligence work in support of the democratic constitutional order. There is no better way in celebrating the national security achievements than to rededicate ourselves to continue the good story of the further consolidation of our democracy through the creation of conditions of peace and stability. These are necessary to make further improvements to the lives of all South Africans, as well as those in the SADC Region and the rest of the African Continent.
In this regard, the Intelligence structures will continue to support government’s efforts of ensuring that the restoration of our people’s dignity is a continuous and sustained process, whilst also making sure that the government remains based on the will of the people.
In consolidating the gains made in the last 20 years, government has put in place a Programme of Action based on the 2014 Election Manifesto of the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Development Plan Vision 2030.
We shall work in support of the priorities as outlined by President Zuma during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2015 including the nine point plan for the radical transformation of the South African economy.
The State Security structures also continue to support government objectives as outlined in Outcome 3: All people in South Africa are and feel safe and Outcome 11: Create a better South Africa; contribute to a better and safer Africa in a better world.
The State Security structures, working within the Criminal Justice System, will also continue to play a significant role on the realisation of the vision of the National Development Plan (NDP) and Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) objectives by ensuring:
1. an efficient and effective criminal justice system
2. South Africa’s borders are effectively defended, protected, secured and well managed
3. that we secure the cyber space
4. that we ensure domestic stability
5. that corruption in the public and private sectors is reduced
In furtherance of the NDP vision and MTSF objectives as per Outcome 11, the State Security Agency will also continue to be an active participant within the International Cooperation Trade and Security (ICTS) cluster by ensuring that:
1. South Africa’s national priorities are advanced
2. that we foster political cohesion within Southern Africa to ensure a peaceful, secure and stable Southern Africa region
3. that we work towards the creation of a peaceful, secure and stable Africa
4. that we work towards a sustainable, developed and economically integrating Africa
5. that we develop strong, mutually beneficially South-South cooperation
6. as well as developing beneficial relations with strategic formations of the North.
The State Security Agency mandate is to secure South Africa’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence, her people, critical infrastructure, assets and interests within the security cluster.
We have been hard at work looking at current security threats that require a deep understanding of the actors and tactics involved, obtained through in-depth and robust intelligence capability and multivariate analysis.
Nations cannot secure their national sovereignty unless they assess the new emerging threats accordingly.
We have deliberately decided to expand the traditional notions of security to address the non–traditional security threats and so develop a comprehensive approach to security.
Our priorities have taken into account the rapidly growing non-traditional security threats like the struggle for resources embedded in the pursuit of:
1. Energy,
2. Security,
3. Environmental degradation,
4. Forced immigration,
5. International Terrorism,
6. Insurgency and ascendary of non-state actors in drug trafficking, proliferation of arms and ammunition, money laundering, financial crime and illicit economy.
Our major challenge facing us is that of Energy Security hence our priority on Energy Mix.
Illegal immigration has become a serious challenge for our country because of our vast borders such as land, air and maritime. Effective control and management of our South Africa’s border security is critical. A month ago, we visited the Lebombo Port of Entry in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga Province and had engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including the local community.
We have received very positive feedback and input which will enable us to strengthen our border security. Plans are advanced for the establishment of our Border Management Agency led by the Department of Home Affairs.
The Port of Cape Town is one pilot project of the Border Management Agency. We are fully active in this project and all indications are that when the BMA becomes operational in 2016, it would have benefited from the experiences of the various pilots that are currently underway. We are participating fully in the process including the recently appointed Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration.
Our African Union vision 2063 seeks to silence the guns in our continent. Without peace and stability development will be compromised hence we support the initiative of heads of government to address our capacity to respond to immediate crisis, funding of Africa’s solution to Africa’s problems. Lest we not forget the issues of transformation of the multinational institutions like UNSC and collaboration with AUPSC. The emergence of foreign militia and the temptations of unconstitutional changes of government with respect to term limits pose further insecurity in the continent.
International terrorism and globalization have resulted in the softening of borders and unfortunately exacerbated security problems to unacceptably dangerous dimensions.
International terrorism is gathering momentum and has moved to centre stage in the security discourse, necessitating closer cooperation in the global village.
The barbaric killing of innocent students and scores injured in Garissa University College in Kenya, beheading of 21 Egyptians by ISIS and attacks of mosque have become a biggest challenge of all times for all nations.
We continue to work closely with other security agencies in SADC through our regional early warning centre, AUPSC through CISSA and ACSRT and UNSC through the Executive Directorate on Counter Terrorism as well as at agency to agency relations.
Transnational crime networks involving small arms, drug trafficking and money laundering are assuming serious importance. Learning from our past mistakes, we shall create a dedicated capacity within the State Security Agency to support SARS in combating illicit economy and other law enforcement agencies
Our concerns remain on the growth of the illicit economy and global illicit financial flows that indicate estimated revenue lost to the African continent annually is five times more than the amount of aid flowing into the continent annually.
Good progress is being registered in areas like combating of trade in illicit tobacco and cigarettes.
Access to resources is likely to continue the economic conflicts if not skilfully managed.
Working with SAPS and other law enforcement agencies, we managed to run successful operations against organised crime syndicates working on human smuggling resulting in 116 arrests. We also disrupted planned rhino poaching operations while netting one main kingpin and two accomplices in KZN.
This financial year 2015/16, we shall:
1. enhance our economic intelligence capacity to deal with all non-traditional security threats
2. partner with the South African Revenue Services in combating illicit economy
3. support the development of a comprehensive strategy on illicit economy
4. enhance our counter terrorism capacity to respond to international terrorism.
5. the programme to deal decisively with organised crime including human smuggling, drug trafficking, rhino poaching and gangsterism will continue to receive our undivided attention.
The advent of the electronic web of information-sharing known as cyberspace has revolutionized the world.
It has brought exciting opportunities in developing our economies, improving our health care, education, agricultural production, military, provision of services etc. These opportunities are endless.
In the same vein, electronic computing and communication pose some of the most complex challenges the world has ever faced. Utility systems providing electricity, gas, and water can be crippled by cyberspace disruptions. Attacks on any of these networks would potentially have disastrous consequences for individuals and for society as a whole.
They range from protecting the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information and deterring identity theft to preventing the scenario recently dramatized in the Bruce Willis movie "Live Free or Die Hard," in which hackers take down the transportation system, then communications, and finally the power grid.
Cybersecurity experts know well that the perimeter defence approach doesn’t work. All such defences can eventually be penetrated or bypassed. And even without such breaches, systems can be compromised, as when flooding Web sites with bogus requests will cause servers to crash in what is referred to as a “denial of service” attack or when bad guys are already inside the perimeter.
We need to work hard in terms of research to develop innovations for addressing a long list of cybersecurity priorities.
For one, better approaches are needed to authenticate hardware, software, and data in computer systems and to verify user identities. Biometric technologies, such as fingerprint readers, may be one step in that direction that has been introduced in our own country.
To achieve integrity and securing our cyber space must be accompanied by methods of monitoring and quickly detecting any security compromises. The ability to detect malicious activity and disable attempted intrusions automatically. Part of that process should be new forensics for finding and catching criminals who commit cybercrime or cyberterrorism.
As people we must recognize that cybersecurity system’s success depends on understanding the safety of the whole system, not merely protecting its individual parts. Consequently cybercrime and cyberterrorism must be fought on the personal, social, and political fronts as well as the electronic front.
Laws and regulations concerning cybersecurity need to be evaluated for their influence on how people use or misuse electronic information.
The growing use of smart phones and other mobile devices to access the Internet has seen more consumers increasingly vulnerable to cybercrime as they enter the cyber space with little or no Cybersecurity awareness.
In recent years, we have seen an enormous increase in the usage of social media networks. Social media networks have the power to help people voice their demands and mobilise their forces. We all know in the case of the so-called Arab Spring how people mobilised themselves or were mobilised to effect a regime change through social media.
Our own experience wherein a 15 year old girl was lured into ISIS is a matter of concern. After my intervention working closely with the law enforcement agencies we were able to intervene decisively.
It brought home the stark message that parents and the broader society must take a stand and exercise caution when their children are engaging in various platforms provided in the cyberspace.
Honourable Members, you are well aware of the various scams and fraudulent activities undertaken by cybercriminals and syndicates to get to your personal information and financial data.
Whilst in other instances security breaches may be attributed to negligence in protection of information, corporate espionage by competitors and hackers, disgruntled employees pose even a bigger threat.
Globally, nation States are faced with a challenge of putting measures in place to protect their territorial integrity, national security and critical infrastructures and citizens against cyber-attacks, cyber terrorism and cyber warfare.
Significant strides are being made in enhancing the security of the nation's critical physical infrastructure as well as its cyber infrastructure and networks.
In March 2012, Cabinet approved a National Cybersecurity Policy Framework (NCPF). To ensure greater cooperation and national alignment of the implementation process, the Cybersecurity Response Committee (CRC), a strategic body chaired by SSA, responsible for Cybersecurity priority setting and overseeing the implementation of the NCPF was established.
Working with universities and other research institutes like the CSIR to build the cybersecurity pipeline through competitive scholarship, fellowship, and internship programs must be our preoccupation to attract top talent and develop systems that have command and control in our hands, national sovereignty.
This financial year, 2015/16 we plan to move with speed to:
1. enhance the institutional cybersecurity capacity
2. finalise the national cybersecurity policy and legislation
3. working with the security cluster to present the Cyber Security Bill before Cabinet this year
4. build on our first symposium work held this year to promote partnership and public cybersecurity awareness campaign designed to increase public understanding of cyber threats and promote simple steps the public can take to increase their safety and security online.
5. strengthen our cooperation in this space with our SADC, AU and BRICS partners through existing mechanism.
6. prioritise the establishment of the Cybersecurity Centre and the repositioning of the current Electronic Communications Security Computer Security Incident Response Team (ECS-CSIRT) to become a Government CSIRT
Securing our cyberspace will ensure conditions for peace, security and development are enhanced.
Honourable Chairperson and Members, confronting and rooting out corruption remains a central feature of this 5th ANC led administration, especially considering the negative impact it has on economy and it’s potential to erode the authority of the state.
Corruption poses a serious and direct threat to our reconstruction and development initiatives, good governance, service delivery, and ultimately stability, particularly at local level. We will continue focusing on corruption within the public service and private sector.
As part of the Anti-Corruption Inter-Ministerial Committee on the combatting of corruption, the State Security structures are playing a critical role in the initiatives geared towards combatting corruption.
With regards to the National Vetting Strategy, we embarked on the process of the prioritisation of government departments and state institutions to ensure the effective implementation the strategy.
We are also at the centre of creating the conditions of security within state departments and entities through the provision of counterintelligence awareness and training programmes aimed at raising the security competence of state employees.
As per our mandate the State Security Agency will this year:
1. Fast-track the implementation of the National Vetting Strategy across all spheres of government and state owned entities
2. Support the law enforcement on domestic stability and authority of the state
Honourable Chairperson and Members, the prosperity and advancement as a country is intrinsic and inextricable link to that of our region and continent.
We have played significant role in supporting our government on matters of peace, security and national interest. We will continue to play our part by providing dynamic, reliable and timeous intelligence to advance our national security and interests.
The security challenges in the various regions of our continent are an indication that there are new and unconventional threats that have necessitated more collaboration within various regions and other multilateral institutions through the AU to respond to the challenges.
Honourable Chairperson and Members, we are pleased to report that we have made strides in stabilising the administration. We have completed the restructuring process and have finalised the migration through confirming outstanding senior management appointments, filling at least one-hundred-and-fifty critical vacant positions and concluding outstanding placement processes.
Furthermore we have concluded the improvement of organisational efficiency through the aligning internal operational directives with the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act. All the operational directives have been reviewed and approved.
The process to introduce and review regulations under the three pieces of intelligence legislation is at an advanced stage. Work on the Green Paper on the review of the White Paper on Intelligence is at an advanced stage. We plan to table the Green Paper in Cabinet during 3rd quarter of this financial year.
In strengthening our capacity and professionalise the intelligence services, we have embarked on a number of interventions aimed at attracting new skills into our critical areas.
We rolled out training members in areas which include cybersecurity, finance, operational trade craft, foreign languages and ICT, amongst others.The Deputy Minister has been at the forefront in engaging with various institutions to make intelligence a career choice for many young South Africans. The cadet programme will be up scaled to create a pipeline for our capacity needs.
The work of giving impetus to the Civilian Intelligence Veterans Association is underway. We met with the interim leadership of CIVA and agreed on areas of partnership.
We have been humbled by the support and encouragement we have received from crop of cadres of our intelligence community. The Deputy Minister is hard at work to take this partnership forward.
In addition we have concluded an organisational culture survey and developed a remedial action plan to address issues raised. Members of the agency will be provided with all the necessary support and resources to discharge their responsibilities. We will ensure that all members are having employment contracts, signed performance agreements and the IPMS fully implemented.
Good performance will be recognised and in the same vein there will be consequences for poor performance and ill-discipline.
The identified interventions in this area include, amongst others;
1. A recruitment drive to fill all critical positions
2. The recruitment of 200 cadets per year with the second intake in October 2015.
3. Reposition the Intelligence Academy
Conclusion
I wish to pay tribute to the serving men and women of the civilian intelligence structures, our veterans, the past and present leadership, as well as those who are no longer with us, for the dedicated and selfless contribution to our democracy, the well-being of our nation, the stability of our region as well as that of the continent.
I would also like to take this moment to encourage our serving members to continue to serve our country with commitment, dignity and pride. Without these individuals it would have been impossible to enjoy the security and freedoms which we take for granted nowadays.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank His Excellency President Zuma, the ANC leadership and alliance for the continued guidance and support provided to us as a Ministry and Department. Similarly, I would like to thank the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, the outgoing Inspector-General of Intelligence Adv. Faith Radebe, the Director-General of the SSA and the entire membership of the State Security Structures.
Lastly I wish to thank my family for the unwavering support. I am heartily pleased that South Africans are responding positively to the call of making national security a societal issue. Once again lets be part of securing our sovereignty, territorial integrity, our people, infrastructure and national interest. Nawe uliphoyisa!!
I humbly submit this budget vote for the Department of State Security for your consideration and approval.
The Freedom Charter further dictates that:
“There shall be peace and Friendship. Let all people who love their people and their country now say here: These freedoms we will fight for, side by side throughout our lives until we have won our liberty”
God bless Africa, her sons and daughters.
I thank you!!!
***
Minister David Mahlobo: Media briefing on State Security 2015/16 Budget Vote
5 May 2015
This year our country celebrates 60 years of the Freedom Charter - the people’s collective vision for our future. As a country and her people we are indeed on course in creating a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society as envisioned in the Freedom Charter and our constitution. However we are the first to admit that more still needs to be done in the construction of this national democratic society.
Over the past 10 months our department has been hard at work in its pursuit of creating a safe and secure South Africa, working alongside other departments in the security cluster.
Our preoccupation is to create a stable domestic situation where our citizens can exercise their constitutional rights, allowing our 21 year old democracy to flourish.
On the occasion of our budget vote and policy speech presentation, we used the opportunity to brief Parliament on the progress we are making with implementing our programmes in terms of our mandate.
Our work is in support of the priorities as outlined by President Zuma during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2015 including the nine point plan for the radical transformation of the South African economy.
We are pleased by the steps taken by President Zuma and his able leadership in ending the violence against foreign nationals and putting measures in place for sustainable solutions on matters of migration and concerns raised by our citizens from issues of unemployment, economic opportunities and crime.
We also commend members of the intelligence community who worked with other law enforcement agencies to restore calm. Further, we are heartened by our members’ contribution in Operation Fiela, a successful operation to clean our communities of havens for criminals. We appreciate the positive response by our communities in this regard. Indeed it is encouraging us to do more.
This year marks twenty years of intelligence work in support of the democratic constitutional order. There is no better way in celebrating the national security achievements than to rededicate ourselves to continue the good story of the further consolidation of our democracy through the creation of conditions of peace and stability.
During the course of our work, we have taken note of the rapidly growing non-traditional security threats which involve the struggle for resources embedded in the pursuit of energy, security, environmental degradation, forced immigration, international terrorism and insurgency. Included in these are other threats of ascendary of non-state actors in drug trafficking, proliferation of arms and ammunition, money laundering, financial crime and illicit economy.
As we continue with our work, we shall focus on these threats, ensuring that we can advise government accordingly.
International terrorism and globalization have resulted in softening of borders. Unfortunately this has exacerbated security problems to unacceptably dangerous dimensions. Terrorism has moved to centre stage in the security discourse, necessitating closer cooperation amongst nations of the globe.
The barbaric killing of innocent students and scores injured in Garissa University College in Kenya, the beheading of 21 Egyptians by ISIS and attacks of mosques have become the biggest challenge of all times for all nations.
Our own experience wherein a 15 year old girl was lured into ISIS is further testimony of this stark reality. Our quick intervention in this regard, working closely with the law enforcement agencies, ensured that we can prevent this from happening. As we have indicated, there is a global trend of online recruitment which targets mainly young people active on social media platforms.
We reiterate our message to the broader society to be vigilant and exercise caution when engaging in various platforms provided in cyberspace. In the case of parents, we need to supervise our children’s online activity, without impacting on their rights to privacy.
We will engage the social cluster of government departments about public campaigns aimed at informing our people about the risks associated with cyberspace.
As people we must recognize that cybersecurity system’s success depends on understanding the safety of the whole system, not merely protecting its individual parts. Consequently cybercrime and cyber-terrorism must be fought on the personal, social, and political fronts as well as the electronic front.
As part of our plans, we will be working with universities and other research institutes to build the cybersecurity pipeline through competitive scholarship, fellowship and internship programs to attract top talent and develop systems that have command and control in our hands.
Corruption poses a serious and direct threat to our reconstruction and development initiatives, good governance, service delivery, and ultimately stability, particularly at local level. We will continue focusing on corruption within the public service and private sector.
As part of the Anti-Corruption Inter-Ministerial Committee, the State Security Agency is playing a critical role in the initiatives geared towards combatting corruption. These include prioritisation of vetting of government departments and state owned enterprises and provision of counterintelligence awareness and training programmes aimed at raising the security competence of state employees.
The issue of transnational crime networks involving small arms, drug trafficking and money laundering is assuming serious importance. Learning from our past mistakes, we shall create a dedicated capacity within the State Security Agency to support SARS in combating illicit economy and other law enforcement agencies.
Amongst the priorities identified for the 2015/16 are the following:
This financial year, 2015/16 we plan to move with speed to:
Enhance the institutional cybersecurity capacity
Finalise the national cybersecurity policy
Present, in conjunction with security cluster departments, the Cyber Security Bill before Cabinet
Build on our first symposium work held this year to promote partnership and public cybersecurity awareness campaign designed to increase public understanding of cyber threats and promote simple steps the public can take to increase their safety and security online.
Strengthen our cooperation in this space with our SADC, AU and BRICS partners through existing mechanism.
We are also on course to build a strong organisation that is geared towards the challenges of the 21st century. Last year we conducted an organisational culture survey and developed a remedial action plan to address issues raised.
We will continue to provide our members with all the necessary support and resources to discharge their responsibilities. Good performance will be recognised and in the same vein there will be consequences for poor performance and ill-discipline.
We have played significant role in supporting our government on matters of peace, security and national interest. We will continue to play our part by providing dynamic, reliable and timeous intelligence to advance our national security and interests.
In conclusion, we want to reassure South Africans that the country doesn’t face any discernable threats. However, we will continue to work hard and remain vigilant at all times. We call on every citizen of this country to join us and be part of the effort to ensure that indeed all of us are and feel safe.
Issued by the Ministry of State Security, May 5 2015
