Latest news with #StateSecurityAgency
Daily Maverick
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Same same — how State Capture has become SA's greatest export
As Trump wipes away American history and redoubles down on thought crimes, he'd be horrified to know that the ANC has done it better, which is to say worse. Of all the ANC's masterstrokes — and believe it or not, there have been a few — the capture (and subsequent erasure) of history is perhaps its most successful. Without a past, there is no future — just an eternal now, a limbo that represents political stasis. And as dynamic as South Africa may seem if you have your nose jammed in the news, this is indeed a country of stasis, a country where new ideas and genuine transformation die before they are born. Because the ANC has captured history — it is, after all, the 'liberation party', and that's all there is to know — there is no point in revising history, because it's meant to be forgotten. Take the Zondo Commission. Remember that billion-rand boondoggle? Four volumes stuffed with the nightmare legacy of Zuma era corruption, and the results? Not much. The complaints are simple: all of that taxpayer money blown, and not a single meaningful prosecution. But that is to miss the point. As the political commentator and playwright Richard Calland has noted, 'State Capture was something that was really significant. And yet there was a real danger that we moved on too fast from it, and the lessons were not learned, were not digested. And then all the work that was done to defend democracy was kind of wasted. And it was a huge effort to protect the institutions and the rule of law. And I think, although full accountability hasn't happened yet, that it was a significant effort to defend public democracy from private State Capture.' And yet, the Zondo Commission Report should be required reading — the first thing placed in the hands of a kid hitting Grade Zero, in picture-book form. This, after all, is the story of how the world is hijacked. It's an epic, a fairytale, a parable. It's also universally applicable, at least as far as democracies are concerned. The Zondo Commission tells a linear story: how a state is captured, and corruption formalised, by a norm-breaking executive and its private sector enablers. President Jacob Zuma, who was manifestly and obviously a thief, became a viable candidate to replace the establishment figure Thabo Mbeki because he wasn't Thabo Mbeki. His shortcomings were overlooked because it was time for change. The change he offered — a populist spin on African nationalism — was the only thing that would keep the ANC, and therefore the country, from imploding. Or so we were told. In educational and intellectual terms, Zuma was not a Harvard University business school graduate. But he was at least as unethical and rapacious as one. A spy by (forced) vocation, he employed his louche paranoia as a tool against his enemies. He effortlessly subverted the State Security Agency, using it as a money funnel and a battering ram to enrich his cronies and undermine his enemies. His benefactors were brought into the fold to act as middlemen in the flow of funds from the state to state-owned enterprises and their private sector contractees. Then, Zuma went for the National Prosecuting Authority, and followed that up with attacks on other law enforcement agencies — a very simple procedure, given that the executive has the final say over who runs these institutions. He made foolish choices to head the Public Protector's office and the Constitutional Court, but they were his choices to make. By doing this, he signalled that it was open season for corruption, and that shame no longer had a role to play in moderating political behaviour in South Africa. There are other forebears of the 21st-century style of kleptocratic state vandalism. They include Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Viktor Orbán in Hungary and, of course, the OG, Vladimir Putin in Russia. But no other country has 4,000 pages of testimony breaking down exactly how the system works. In this, the Zondo Commission Report is perhaps the most important piece of political literature written in the past 25 years. And outside of Ferial Haffajee, how many South Africans, let alone foreign political observers or analysts, have read the whole thing? From a certain perspective, Zondo is a blueprint for how an empowered and unembarrassable executive performs a coup on his or her own country. There are clues in Zondo for how the 21st century has gone so horribly wrong, and hints at how to fix it. *** If liberal Americans knew what they were doing — and they don't — they'd see South Africa as a bellwether, as a warning. This isn't a Zuma equals Trump comparative thing — this goes far beyond individual personalities. Instead, they'd understand how corruption becomes entrenched — how it underpins, and then entirely supplants, ideology. As in South Africa, in the United States, special interests long ago hijacked anything resembling a functioning democracy. Here, the Guptas were avatars for private parasites latching on to the state and leeching it dry. In the US, corruption was driven through the Supreme Court, which has proved almost gleefully amenable. The biggest moment was the Citizens United ruling in 2008, which effectively allowed unlimited corporate spending in election campaigns. From there, it's been relatively smooth sailing. In recent years, while much of the focus was on the repeal of Roe v Wade and the end of female bodily autonomy, Trump's Supreme Court has done two things. First, it's allowed the executive almost monarchical power. And second, it's made bribery — or, rather, 'gratuities' — legal. You don't have to be a genius to see how this leads to a culture of extreme corruption, and it has. The end of Joe Biden's disastrous term led to a slew of pre-pardons of family members, which slithered into Trump 2 and the Zuma-like strip-down of the state. Congress, ostensibly a lawmaking body, stares on gape-mouthed as Trump rewrites the American order in the Oval Office. The lower courts have held up what might be considered the rule of law, but at this point it's largely vestigial. Trump is so empowered that he's now very literally rewarding corruption. Take the case of Paul Walczak, a medical executive and tax cheat who made an application for a full pardon, which Trump ignored. Until Walczak's mother showed up at a million-dollar-a-plate fundraising dinner, where she hobnobbed with the Republican glitterati and scored her son a get-out-of-jail-free card. It's pay to play, and there's no longer anything ambiguous about it. *** Zuma's genius, as with Trump and his minions, is to make graft ideological. The infamous Bell Pottinger misinformation campaign, which reintroduced White Monopoly Capital into the South African parlance, situated corruption and anti-constitutionalism as a transformation project — as a means to empower the previously unempowered. In essence, this was a 'screw the elite' project, which conveniently ignored the facts of power distribution in South Africa, while exploiting the very real economic disparities. Likewise, the Trump ideology comes down to little more than Fuck The Libs. This is a deplorable uprising, the upending of snooty Harvard/Yale/Columbia shitlibs (which again ignores the specifics of who is currently in power in the US). This is emotion as ideology, a vacuous project of rage-baiting driven by the neo-Bell Pottingers on the likes of Elon Musk's X. 'So loud and quiet at once, ideology becomes a substitute for mood,' wrote the novelist Joshua Cohen. And the mood in the US is dark and rebarbative. The capture of the state by special interests — by the billionaire class and the corporations who will exclusively benefit from the revolution under way — is misinterpreted as fascism. But this is silly. The performance of authoritarianism is secondary to the flood-the-zone-with-sewage approach to governance, which hides the formalisation of corruption. No one bothered to call Zuma a fascist — it simply didn't matter. He worked for his family and his friends and benefactors, and no one else. It was a simpler time. It should hopefully be obvious that rebuilding a functioning state in the wake of State Capture is nearly impossible. The centralisation of corruption under Big Men like Zuma (and Trump) inevitably gives way to a violent contestation when they leave office. This fragmentation is lethal and destabilising, and it breeds nostalgia for the good old days of the God King. Which is where South Africa finds itself now. As Trump wipes away American history and redoubles down on thought crimes, he'd be horrified to know that the ANC has done it better, which is to say worse. The rest of the world should take note: it's not fun digging out from under ideology-as-mood. Very little is left to build with. But it always pays to remember that State Capture is an elite project, prosecuted from the top, that benefits the wealthy and powerful. The rest of us are just suckers and cannon fodder. DM
Daily Maverick
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
State Security Agency should have warned Ramaphosa about Trump's false ‘farm murder crosses'
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says the State Security Agency should have briefed Cyril Ramaphosa beforehand on the display of white crosses that US President Donald Trump showed him last week to try to back up false accusations of a white genocide in South Africa. Earlier this month, on 13 May 2025, Elon Musk retweeted a video showing aerial footage of a row of white crosses alongside a road. The words accompanying the post he retweeted were: 'Each cross represents a white farmer who was murdered in South Africa. 'And some people still deny that white South Africans/Boers are persecuted and say they don't deserve asylum because they are white.' The crosses were in fact linked to a couple murdered in a robbery in KwaZulu-Natal about five years ago – and the crime was not racially motivated. Musk's post said: 'So many crosses.' His retweet was shared about 52,000 times. So many crosses — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2025 Now, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says the State Security Agency (SSA), based on Musk's post, should have anticipated that US President Donald Trump would show the same footage of the crosses during President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the White House last week. In a long and detailed statement issued on Sunday, 25 May 2025, she referred to the crosses and several other issues relating to Ramaphosa's recent US visit. 'Burial sites' misinformation During Ramaphosa's visit, Trump showed him a video montage, including footage of the crosses. Trump, who has peddled the false idea that there is a white Afrikaner genocide in South Africa, said: 'Now this is very bad. These are burial sites right here. Burial sites. Over a thousand of white farmers… 'Each one of those white things you see is a cross and there's approximately a thousand of them. They were all white farmers. The family of white farmers… 'It's a terrible sight. I've never seen anything like it. Both sides of the road, you have crosses. Those people were all killed.' Ramaphosa wanted to know if Trump knew where the footage had been taken, as he had not seen it before. Trump simply said that it had been taken in South Africa – Ramaphosa said he would find out. 'SSA should have known' Ntshavheni, in her statement on Sunday, said News24 had fact-checked Trump's claim about the white crosses. Daily Maverick has also fact-checked claims, including about the crosses, Trump made during Ramaphosa's visit. Rebecca Davis reported: 'The white crosses were erected along the road in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, in 2020 as a protest against the murder of Glen and Vida Rafferty on their farm. 'The crosses have since been removed.' As for News24, its article said: 'The footage does not show burial sites… The crosses did not only represent white farmers.' In her statement on Sunday, Ntshavheni said she had been unable to relay information about the crosses, as conveyed to her via the SSA, to Ramaphosa when Trump had shown him the footage. This was because of 'the lack of gadgets' – presumably, the lack of cellphones on hand during the meeting. 'Should the SSA have anticipated that display, given that Elon tweeted about it on 14 May?' Ntshaveni said. 'Most definitely, and it is an area that the SSA must never fail the President on their briefing to him again,' Ntshavheni's statement said. (Daily Maverick established Musk retweeted footage of the crosses on 13 May.) 'Not graves' Last week, when releasing South Africa's latest crime statistics, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu also referred to the crosses footage. 'The picture of many crosses on both sides of a dirt road between Newcastle and Normandien in KwaZulu-Natal flows from a Normandien-registered case,' he said. 'The incident sparked a very strong protest by the farming community in the area. The crosses symbolised killings on farms over years; they are not graves,' Mchunu added. 'And it was unfortunate that those facts got twisted to fit a false narrative about crime in South Africa.' 'Diplomatic courtesies' In her statement on Sunday, Ntshavheni referred to several other issues relating to Ramaphosa's US visit. She said Ramaphosa had been respectfully received. 'This working visit is one of those where better diplomatic courtesies were accorded to our President,' Ntshavheni said. 'President Ramaphosa is the first African head of state and government to be invited to the White House in this second term of the Trump administration. 'It is not only the significance of the invitation that matters, it is the issues the two leaders discussed beyond South Africa's domestic issues.' She said Ramaphosa and Trump had 'compared notes on their approaches towards ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.' Ntshavheni reiterated that during discussions over lunch and at the Oval Office, relations had been respectful. 'There were no signs of the impatience the world had witnessed during other recent visits to the White House,' she said. DM
TimesLIVE
14-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
SSA now watching private airstrips
Government is conducting security assessments at aerodromes and private airstrips as some of them are suspected of being used for illicit activities such as arms, drugs and human trafficking. This is according to Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister in the presidency responsible for the affairs of the State Security Agency (SSA), who was responding to oral questions in parliament on Wednesday with other ministers in the peace and security cluster. Ntshavheni told MPs that since the beginning of the 2025/2026 financial year in April, multidisciplinary law enforcement agencies, led by the SSA, had private airstrips on their radar as part of government's strategy to tackle serious and organised crime. 'In pursuit of our mandate as SSA and in support of the department of transport we conduct continuous airport security risk assessments and this covers all public airports and private airports. 'This work has been extended from this financial year to cover aerodromes or small airports or airfields, so we can cover our mandate to deal with the concerns raised by the member,' she said. Ntshavheni was responding to a question submitted by MP Mzwanele Manyi, chief whip of the official opposition in the National Assembly, the MK Party. Manyi wanted to know what measures, since 2018, the SSA had put in place to probe and respond to the proliferation of private airstrips, which he said were suspected of aiding 'cross-border illicit activities'. He also asked Ntshavheni to explain how many 'unregistered or lightly regulated' airstrips the SSA was aware of. 'If these suspicious [airstrips] are being kept under surveillance then how do you explain the ongoing smuggling of drugs, human trafficking, proliferation of firearms and ammunition, endangered wildlife and foreign currency through these strips? 'All without a single interception detected by the SSA. Could it be that the infamous Phala Phala dollars also entered through these routes, in these airstrips, given that Sars customs through all official airports have no records of these transactions? Are we to conclude, minister, that your agency has failed to detect these threats or elements of the state are complicit?' Ntshavheni did not fall for the Phala Phala trap with her terse reply to Manyi's follow-up question. 'As we have indicated, we've extended the security risk assessment to aerodromes to deal with that concern. However, monitoring the airspaces which the member is referring to [is the responsibility of] the SANDF, [via] the air force.' DA MP Diane Kohler-Barnard, who has extensive experience as a legislator in the security cluster, indicated there were at least 400 public and private airports, airstrips and landing strips. 'On the whole they cater to local communities, private businesspeople and aviation enthusiast. There are among those airstrips [those] that are used under the radar to drop off drugs, move kidnap victims or live animals. 'However, most of these strips are used legitimately for tourists to get to game farms, for medical transport, so is the SSA, hopefully, working in tandem with crime intelligence, targeting those strips used for criminal activity while clearing those who aren't? 'I fear the SSA will do what they do tend to do, which is block any use by anyone in case there's some criminal use, is that the case and if not, what is the risk level?' she asked. The minister replied saying it was not the responsibility of the SSA to decide who could or could not operate a private airstrip. Their job was to conduct security assessments on behalf of the licensing authorities.
IOL News
14-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Minister Ntshavheni unveils major reforms in the State Security Agency
Minister of the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says the State Security Agency is completing the process to establish a panel to undertake disciplinary inquiry related to the work of the Zondo Commission, the High Level Review Panel, and other investigations. Image: GCIS Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the State Security Agency (SSA) has started a process to establish a panel to undertake disciplinary inquiries related to matters that were probed by the Zondo Commission and other investigations. 'The agency is completing the process to establish a panel to undertake disciplinary inquiry related to the work of the Zondo Commission, the High Level Review Panel, and other investigations. The implementation of the outstanding recommendations will be prioritised and finalised in the current financial year,' Ntshavheni said. This takes place as the SSA is redesigning its structure and redefining its mandate. Responding to questions in the National Council of Provinces, Ntshavheni said a skills audit was conducted across the agency to clarify skills and competency gaps. 'The skills audit outcome has supported the skills refresh through retraining, voluntary severance package or alternative deployment to ensure steady pipeline of skilled intelligence officers. The supporting training programme is being developed while most critical programme started being implemented.' she said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Ntshavheni also said the SSA organisational structure redesign and reorganisation process was under way to ensure the organisation operated optimally. 'The agency is redefining its mandate, improving personnel management and modernising intelligence capability.' She noted that the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill has been signed into law, and work has begun to prepare for the separation of the SSA into two departments – the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Domestic Intelligence Agency. This work includes redrafting the regulations to improve governance and coordination the two departments, including the supporting entities, the Office Interception Centre. Ntshavheni assured the MPs that the changes at the SSA would not lead to the collapse of the state. 'Indeed, change resistance is a big issue, more especially when dealing with an organisation facing challenges like the SSA. We have appointed a change management officer who is working with staff and management to ensure that there is minimal resistance to change. 'We have done reconfiguration, including management swaps to make nobody feel there is a purge or anything like that,' she said, adding that the alternative deployment mechanism ensured that people did not feel they were discarded but were put into better use. 'Intelligence officers below management have been happy with the change required as necessitated by the Zondo Commission and the High Level Review Panel. We have great support from general intelligence, and, therefore, there will not be a collapse of the environment or the work of SSA through the process of change,' added Ntshavheni.
Daily Maverick
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
State Security Agency vows to push for prosecution of anyone threatening SA's democracy
The SSA is tightening the screws on laws criminalising espionage – and is on the alert for treason, disinformation campaigns and foreign interference. This emerged in Parliament after US President Donald Trump again falsely claimed there is a 'white farmer genocide' in SA. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has made it clear that the State Security Agency (SSA) is on the alert for any disinformation campaigns, foreign meddling and treasonous acts. It will push for the prosecution of anyone in South Africa who threatens the country's security. Ntshavheni said this while answering questions in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday, 13 May 2025. 📸 Minister in the Presidency, Ms Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, responding to Oral Questions during a session of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). #GovZAUpdates — South African Government (@GovernmentZA) May 13, 2025 Concerns over the United States cropped up during the sitting, and those asking Ntshavheni questions used words including 'racist' and 'right-wing,' as well as 'lunatics' and 'civil war.' People from South Africa have visited the US to detail their stance on issues, including farm murders. Among them were representatives of Afrikaner interest group AfriForum. 'Ideological influences' Answering questions in Parliament on Tuesday, Ntshavheni said 'the State Security Agency is actively monitoring national security risks arising from international political movements and support groups due to concerns about the potential influence on South Africa's domestic affairs. 'The State Security Agency is vigilant against disinformation campaigns, cyber operations and ideological influences that could destabilise public trust in democratic institutions.' There was also a focus on any movements that could 'undermine national security and economic stability'. Ntshavheni believed the SSA was effective in collecting information relating to the potential destabilisation of the country. 'It is for that reason there has not been any incident that has come into play in the country that threatens our sovereignty,' she said. At this point, Ntshavheni mentioned the US. SA 'refugees' in US 'not a threat' The day before, on Monday, 12 May 2025, the US had welcomed a group of 59 (although some reports said 49) Afrikaners from South Africa as 'refugees'. On their arrival there, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau provided some details about what they had said they experienced in this country. 'They were really subject to very serious, egregious, and targeted threats, and we wish them well in their journey in the United States,' Landau said. In February this year, an executive order by US President Donald Trump offered refuge to 'Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination'. On 12 May, while addressing journalists and referring to South Africa, Trump said: 'It's a genocide that's taking place and you people don't want to write about it… 'Farmers are being killed, they happen to be white.' Ntshavheni, speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, said she was sure that some members would be 'tempted to say' that the group of Afrikaners who chose to head to the US were 'a threat to national security'. However, she said: 'It's not a threat to national security. It's not a threat to national unity and we must continue to applaud the Afrikaner and white community who have said, 'not in my name'. 'There's no genocide of white people in South Africa.' 'Winning the farm murder fight' Ntshavheni said that statistics relating to farm murders were accurate. According to official South African Police Service statistics, during the last three months of 2024, there were 12 'farming community' murders recorded in the country. One of the 12 killed was a farmer. AfriForum previously contested that figure, saying it should be higher. But on Tuesday, Ntshavheni said the statistics 'were correct and accurate as demonstrated to AfriForum'. She said, 'We are winning the fight against farm murders.' Treason investigation Daily Maverick previously reported that in February, the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party filed a complaint of treason against AfriForum, accusing it of lobbying 'foreign powers to act against the sovereignty and economic interests of South Africa'. Ntshavheni, without mentioning AfriForum, said on Tuesday that the police were investigating 'treason in terms of the false information being spread'. She later said that 'the law enforcement agencies are investigating the treasonous act of misinformation'. Ntshavheni said: 'The constitutional democracy we achieved in 1994 was… the … largest of sacrifices… The transformation agenda of the government [is] to make sure that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.' She said that the transformation of South Africa's economy was being dealt with, and in a manner that ensured it did not pose a threat to any racial grouping in South Africa. Pushing for prosecution Ntshavheni reiterated that treasonous acts would not be left unpunished. 'Anyone – whether they are a political structure, whether they are a civil society organisation, or whether they're individuals – who threatens democracy, who threatens… the security of the state, we will not leave any stone unturned to make sure they are prosecuted,' she said. Ntshavheni said that in South Africa, the rights of all citizens to engage freely in active civil society were protected. However, she said the process that led to the addition of South Africa to the Financial Action Task Force's grey list, which relates to a country's ability to combat illicit financial flows, 'pointed to weaknesses'. These related to how certain organisations, including nonprofit ones, were being registered and their activities checked. This was being addressed.
