State Security Minister David Mahlobo must come out of hiding and make a public state on the "spy cables" expose
25 February 2015
It is now clear the State Security Agency (SSA) is "ground zero" of the "spy cables" expose by Al Jazeera.
For the past 48 hours Al Jazeera have been "dumping" classified State Security Agency documents.
The leaking of classified documents have done considerable damage to the credibility of the State Security Agency.
And yet Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, appears to have gone into hiding and has not made a public statement.
This is despite a strong indication that he would make a public statement at about 14h00 yesterday.
When put under pressure about scandals within the State Security Agency yesterday the Minister fled from Parliament.
It's now time that the Minister come out of hiding and make a public statement on the "spy cables" expose and brief the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI).
UPDATE
We need a full-scale investigation into the "spy cable" exposé involving the SSA
25 February 2015
We welcome the fact that the Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, has finally "surfaced" and made a public statement on the "spy cable" exposé involving the State Security Agency (SSA) (see here). The Minister has undertaken to launch a full investigation into the "purported leakage" of classified documents from the State Security Agency.
However, what we need is an investigation into the "spy cable" exposé to be conducted by the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI). It is imperative that the Committee determines whether the "spy cable" exposé reveals any wrongdoing on the part of the State Security Agency.
The Minister's suggestion that "spy cable exposé" may reveal information concerning possible spying on politicians and "a head of a Chapter 9 institution" is especially worrying. If there is evidence that the State Security Agency was spying on Chapter 9 institutions, it would be the first evidence of illegal activity on the part of the State Security Agency.
The Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence has to act and cannot slip into "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" mode in the middle of the biggest leak of classified documents experienced by the State Security Agency in the last twenty years.
I have written to the Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, Connie September, to request that she:
- schedule an urgent briefing by the Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, on this matter; and
- prepare a special report, in terms of Section 6 (2) of the Intelligence Oversight Act (No. 40 of 1994), to be tabled in Parliament.
- I am still waiting for a response.
Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of State Security, February 25 2015
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
