DA formally asks Minister Dlodlo to disband captured State Security Agency

29 January 2021

In the face of complete radio silence from Parliament as the treasonous looting of South Africa via the State Security Agency (SSA) is exposed daily at the Zondo Commission, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to Minister Ayanda Dlodlo asking that she drives the total shutdown of the Agency. She must ensure that every single person linked to the Agency is examined under a microscope.

These acts of theft, as revealed one-by-one every day this week, we believe have clearly revealed an attempt to overthrow the government through unlawful means: treason. From private armies to attacks on the Judiciary and free media, it seems the only word adequate to the situation.

Two days ago the DA called for the total disbandment of the entire SSA and for the establishment of an independent, efficient and transparent state security agency.

The revelations at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry have shocked the nation, but these events should have been dealt with a decade ago. The DA has laid criminal charges, on numerous occasions, but those cases were swept under the Jacob Zuma-carpet. This Agency had but one aim, to protect Zuma.  We knew it was bad, but few could have predicted that they looted over R9 billion to keep him in power and living in luxury.

There is no possibility of saving the SSA in its current format. Those nameless, faceless official are still there, and may well still be looting at levels never before seen in South Africa.

The looted money could have paid for vaccines for every single one of us. Instead, it was swindled, and as far as anyone knows, millions are still streaming out of the SSA via the hands of those employed by that agency and given to people who have no right to it.

The ANC destroyed the best-working crime fighting unit this country has ever seen, and today we ask that they show the same commitment they used to shut down the Scorpions, to shut the doors of this Agency, conduct a full investigation into every single staff member, and refocus on the security needs of our country.

To date, not a cent has been recovered, not a single arrest made. It’s time that the soundproof walls keeping the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence in the dark came down, and the thieves who have been stealing South Africa blind, donned the orange overalls they so richly deserve.

Issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA Shadow Minister of State Security, 29 January 2021