ANC STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO CDE RONNIE KASRIL'S CONTINUED ATTACK ON THE STATE SECURITY INFORMATION BILL

The African National Congress finds it strange and shocking that a former member of Cabinet and former leader of the ANC, cde Ronnie Kasrils, want to rule the Department of Intelligent, now State Security,  from the grave through his negative commentary on the Information Bill. 

Cde Ronnie Kasrils failed to deal with the mess in the then Department of Intelligence, where he was a Minister, which left us vulnerable to machinations of foreign spies, information peddlers and espionage activities. 

We would have expected cde Ronnie as a former Minister and a member of the ANC to have engaged the current Minister of State Security, cde Siyabonga Cwele, instead of posing as a champion of civil society.

We have done everything in our power not to respond to the ravings of cde Ronnie Kasrils, ever since he started on this route. We always believed that he would find it appropriate to stop such unwarranted attacks on his government and contribute constructively to any matter in the public domain.  We also wrongly believed that Cde Ronnie Kasrils, would desist from using the media in trying to be relevant and to keep a public profile.  It is quite clear that we were wrong in all these respects. 

Even at this late stage, we still call upon cde Ronnie to come forward and make a constructive contribution to the Department that he led and to the Country's security.  It is our belief that if he prefers to engage with his ANC on this matter of importance, the security of State information, he will find the ANC and its Government ready for such engagement.

Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, ANC National Spokesperson, November 18 2011

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