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IEB: 3 January
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Johannesburg – Twenty-two of the most senior crime officers, in charge of counter, security intelligence and national security, do not have valid security clearance certificates.
The officers are in the top positions at crime intelligence and include;
• The head of the secret service account;
• The head of covert intelligence collection;
• The KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, North West and Northern Cape provincial heads;
• The section heads in charge of national security, narcotics, finance, covert collection, Interpol and;
• The section head in charge of internal audit, evaluation and monitoring.
Crime intelligence officers need the clearance to be allowed to view top secret documents containing highly-sensitive information.
ALSO READ: Senior police officers promoted without security clearance, Parliament hears
The list of officers was provided to the director general of the State Security Agency (SSA) by then-acting national commissioner Lesetja Mothiba.
It was attached to a letter written in July this year and which is titled “Crime Intelligence: Senior Management Service Members: security clearance”.
The letter, seen by News24, refers to an earlier discussion which took place between the acting police commissioner, the acting divisional commissioner of crime intelligence and the Minister of State Security.
It said the list attached was all the senior managers at the rank of major general and brigadier within crime intelligence, both nationally and provincially, who did not have valid security clearance.
Mothiba asks that the SSA facilitate the vetting process.
‘In progress’
In a separate document, seen by News24, the status of the security clearance process is listed for all the major generals and brigadiers. Fifteen of the officers are listed as having their clearance “in progress”, but six of them include the fact that their status was under investigation.
Four were listed as being at the polygraph stage and another four were listed as being at the evaluation phase.
News24 understands this means that all the phases, including the last one which is the polygraph test, have been completed and the documents are being evaluated and the certificate is waiting to be issued.
Previous Crime Intelligence commissioner major general Pat Mokushane is listed as being at the evaluation phase in the process, as well as a major-general and brigadier from crime intelligence’s head office.
Mokushane was fired from his position in August for not having a valid clearance certificate.
ALSO READ: Acting police commissioner Mothiba to oversee crime intelligence
But, these documents indicate that there is a general backlog in the issuing of the certificates and Mokushane’s was not an isolated incident.
City Press reported that Mokushane and two of his colleagues were allegedly in possession of fraudulent top secret security clearance certificates.
This was according to Major-General Dumezweni Zimu, the head of counter and security intelligence who wrote a letter to Mokushane and Mothiba raising the issue of Mokushane’s clearance.
Mothiba had told Parliament that employing Mokushane without the proper paperwork in place had been an “oversight”.
According to Zimu, Mokushane still had to submit documentation to get his clearance including his matric certificate, tertiary qualifications, registration documents for his three companies, declaration of interests, financial disclosures, credit card details, property ownership records, hire-purchase agreements and bank statements to the vetting team.
‘Harrowing reflection of systemic failure’
However, the documents News24 has seen indicate that Zimu himself does not have top secret clearance.
Zimu and another two members from head office are listed as having their top secret clearance expired.
The document says they must re-apply. Another three officers were listed as having had no previous application.
Zimu’s clearance was listed as being more than three years expired; it was last valid in February 2014 according to the document.
ALSO READ: Crime intel boss investigated for security clearance, misuse of funds
Earlier this month, the DA released a statement which said that at a presentation delivered before Parliament’s Police Portfolio Committee it was revealed that almost three quarters of rank and file CI division employees did not have security clearance.
The release said that some of the findings showed that:
– Three SAPS generals were denied security clearance and a further 12 had expired;
– 125 SAPS generals and brigadiers failed to apply for security clearance;
– The clearance of more than 1 300 CI employees had expired while a further 85 were denied security clearance;
– 6 130 CI members have no clearance at all.
“This provides a harrowing reflection of the systemic failure in leadership of the police and CI in the country. It speaks to the deep divisions within the R3.54 billion CI division,” said the DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard.
Police had not yet responded to News24’s queries, but it is believed that the issue of clearance certificates will be discussed at Parliament’s police portfolio committee later on Friday.
Johannesburg – MultiChoice will investigate its total payments to the controversial ANN7 TV channel following media reports of “an irregular relationship” and concerns about corporate governance failures.
The chair of the MultiChoice audit and risk committees, Don Eriksson, said in a statement on Friday that the board would investigate and take necessary action.
On Wednesday, the City Press reported that the pay-TV company, that owns DStv and M-Net, was accused of paying R100-million in kickbacks to the SABC in exchange for the public’s broadcaster “political influence over digital migration”.
– Read more: No clandestine meetings, kickbacks with SABC – MultiChoice
This followed a report by News24 regarding a R25m payment to ANN7 and that MultiChoice had increased its annual payment to the channel from R50m to R141m.
MultiChoice insisted previously that there was nothing untoward with its relationship with ANN7.
Here is MultiChoice’s full statement:
Statement by the chair of the MultiChoice audit and risk committees, Don Eriksson – independent non-executive director
The MultiChoice board has read the various media reports alleging that MultiChoice has entered into an irregular relationship for the carriage of the ANN7 channel.
The board is aware that the ANN7 channel has caused real public concern because of the allegations of corruption levelled at the former owners of the channel.
These allegations have negatively impacted the reputation of MultiChoice. The MultiChoice board has therefore instructed its audit and risk committees to:
– Assess whether there has been any corporate governance failures at MultiChoice and report back to the board. Based on what is contained in that report, the MultiChoice board will take the necessary action;
– Assess whether the total amount paid to ANN7 is comparable to payments made for other locally-produced channels with due consideration being given to the estimated costs of running a 24-hour news channel;
– Draw on any expertise and skills necessary in order to fulfil the mandate given by the board.
In addition, Adv Moroka, one of the MultiChoice board members, was requested by the board and has agreed to, assist the audit and risk committees in this matter.
JOHANNESBURG – State capture is emerging a key issue amongst ANC voters, a new poll commissioned by eTV and conducted by MarkData found.
The survey quizzed hundreds of ANC voters, who elected the ruling party in the last municipal and national elections, in both the Eastern and Northern Cape.
The research, conducted in September and October, found state capture was pretty much on everybody’s mind.
MAP: Track the ANC provincial nominations for party president
Researchers posed this question: What should happen if there’s proof of a corrupt relationship between the president and the Guptas?
Some 60 percent of Eastern Cape voters said Zuma and the Guptas should go to prison, while Northern Cape supporters also called for jail time.
Seventy-three percent said both parties should be locked up if there is proof of corruption, while another 11 percent said the Guptas should be jailed with the president getting a pardon.
RECORDED: Parliament debates state capture
Based on this poll, Cyril Ramaphosa is the firm favourite and scores above 50 percent in both provinces – more than double the number of his closest rival, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has the backing of ex-husband Jacob Zuma.
There is no telling how that will affect her campaign, but voters in this survey are sending a clear message – the ANC must move out of the shadow cast by its current leader.
eNCA
Cape Town – A rural safety strategy to address the wave of farm killings in South Africa will be finalised by the end of the year, Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Mbalula said he had met with the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) and it was agreed that addressing farm killings “is and must be a priority”.
“Police need to create a conducive environment for farmers to produce and ensure food security for all our people,” Mbalula said.
“We reiterate the spirit of the Freedom Charter, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.”
In the statement, the police ministry indicated that office-bound police officers would be deployed during the upcoming festive season to respond to farm killings.
Meanwhile, the SAPS has distanced itself from a “fake news” story alleging that newly appointed National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole has said farm murders do not exist.
No official statistics
“We strongly condemn the fake news article and call on the public to disregard the story,” Sitole’s spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo told News24 on Wednesday evening.
“This is not the view of the national police commissioner or the SAPS.”
Farm murders have been in the spotlight in recent weeks after thousands of South Africans gathered on Monday, October 30, in an event dubbed #BlackMonday.
The gathering was sparked by the murder of Klamputs farmer Joubert Conradie on October 24.
Since then, the National Assembly has debated the incidence of farm murders in the country, with the DA and COPE calling on the SAPS to address the issue.
The official number of farm murders in the country remains disputed as the SAPS does not release official statistics on these crimes.
Cape Town – While allegations of corruption in the police’s procurement process were laid bare in the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday, the man alleged to be central in the alleged scam – Keith Keating – sat behind the MPs, staring down the police’s top brass and officials from the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
It emerged in the meeting that SITA awarded a contract for forensic equipment for the police, mostly lights and Nikon cameras, worth more than R900m to Keating’s company Forensic Data Analysts, and a contract to another Keating-linked company for the maintenance of this equipment, without following procurement processes and without there being a reason for Forensic Data Analysts being the sole provider.
National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole described the matter as “a very high security risk”, while the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said it expected a “climax” in the investigation before Christmas.
Having a ball in the UK
DA MP Tim Brauteseth led the questioning. He asked the police, with Sitole leading the delegation, about a trip police officers took to the UK in October 2011. Sitole and his team said they knew nothing about it.
Brauteseth then whipped out two enlarged photographs showing four men wearing personalised jerseys of English football team Manchester United at its storied stadium, Old Trafford.
DA MP Tim Brauteseth holding up a picture of two officers from the police’s procurement department with a supplier to the police, Keith Keating, during Wednesday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. (Jan Gerber, News24)
Two of the men were identified as officers in the police’s supply chain management department, a Colonel Arendt and a Brigadier Masuku.
Also in the photographs were Keating, and Jerenique Bayard, who was then a director at Unisys, which supplied forensic equipment to the police through Keating’s Forensic Data Analysts.
Keith Keating, Jerenique Bayard and two officers of the police’s supply chain management team in Manchester United’s trophy room in October 2011. (Supplied)
Keith Keating, Jerenique Bayard and two officers of the police’s supply chain management team outside Old Trafford in October 2011. (Supplied)
‘Not normal practice’
Brauteseth then said he had an invoice from Forensic Data Analysts for equipment delivered six months before the trip and asked if the trip was a reward for the procurement contract awarded to Forensic Data Analysts.
Sitole said the police did not authorise the trip.
“This trip is documented, it was an official trip,” said Brauteseth who then warned Sitole that he was under oath.
“I did not say it was a private trip,” Sitole said. “The trip is unknown to me. It is not normal practice.”
National police commissioner general Khehla Sitole at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ meeting on Wednesday. (Jan Gerber, News24)
Brauteseth then turned his attention to SITA and asked why Forensic Data Analysts managed to get the deal to be the sole supplier of 3 573 items, especially as the items procured were hardly unique and Forensic Data Analysts was not the only supplier.
He had to repeat the question a few times before SITA CEO Setumo Mohapi said the business case was made for Forensic Data Analysts to be the sole supplier, and this case was accepted.
Under further questioning, Mohapi admitted there was no competitive bidding and that SITA was still doing business with Forensic Data Analysts.
Legal team looking for way out of contract
Brauteseth said there was an improper relationship between Forensic Data Analysts and the police’s procurement department, and a contract between the two of R919m for the equipment and a contract for the equipment’s maintenance amounting to approximately R500 0000 until 2019, which was “completely irregular”.
“Yes, sir,” Mohapi answered softly.
Further gruelling questioning by Brauteseth and other MPs revealed that SITA launched an investigation into the deal and eight of its employees were dismissed. A number of companies have been blacklisted, but not Forensic Data Analysts. SITA’s legal team is also looking for a way to end the contract.
Scopa chairperson Themba Godi allowed IPID to present on its investigation into Forensic Data Analysts’ dealings with the police.
IPID head Robert McBride said the Forensic Data Analysts deal came to the directorate’s attention during an investigation of allegations that former acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane had received kickbacks from Keating. Keating reportedly denied this.
McBride said the investigation would be expedited following the appointment of Sitole.
“We recommend that no further money must be paid to FDA [Forensic Data Analysts],” he said.
Claims of equipment oversupply
IPID head of investigations Matthews Sesoko said there was a “clear manipulation of the procurement system”, that the system was “rigged” to favour Forensic Data Analysts and there was “a corrupt relationship” between the company and the police.
He said last Friday investigators got a tip-off that forensic equipment procured in 2014 was left in a warehouse on Phahlane’s instruction.
He said according to statements from police officers there was clearly an oversupply of this equipment.
McBride said the investigation into Phahlane and Forensic Data Analysts should “reach a climax” before Christmas when IPID will be able to hand the matter over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
However, McBride said there were “criminal elements in the NPA harassing IPID”.
Mohapi also said he and his management team had received death threats.
‘Keating must know nobody fears him’
Through all of this Keating, a former police officer, sat behind the MPs, directly in the line of sight of the police officers and SITA staff.
When McBride said he hoped Keating would cooperate with IPID’s investigation, which he hadn’t thus far, Keating smirked.
MPs also made it clear what they thought of Keating, with some ANC MPs claiming that he was intimidating the police and SITA officials. However, Godi didn’t deem it necessary to ask him to move.
Godi said he was speechless about the brazenness of his attendance.
“I’ve never seen Atul Gupta coming to Parliament to sit and listen as they discuss corruption,” he said, referring to a member of the controversial Gupta family accused of state capture.
Keith Keating, accused of a corrupt relationship with the police, attending the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ meeting. (Jan Gerber, News24)
‘Captured by Keating’
ANC MP Nyami Booi said: “Keating must know nobody fears him. I’m not even interested in him. He must get arrested.”
Keating smiled when ANC MP Nthabiseng Khunou said she hoped he would get a fitting sentence, as the wealthy always got away without jail sentences when they committed crimes.
To the police, Khunou said: “You should be an example, not colluding with criminals. Do you want to be captured by Keating? Why don’t you do what you’re supposed to do – put him in jail?”
Keating shook his head faintly.
As people poured out of Parliament’s stuffy committee room V454 when the meeting ended after about 4 hours and 40 minutes, News24 approached Keating.
“No comment,” he said, shaking his head.
PARLIAMENT – Three of Parliament’s biggest opposition parties on Wednesday rejected a report by the legislature’s justice portfolio committee that an inquiry into the fitness of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was not warranted.
The report was adopted earlier this month after the Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted to the National Assembly a request for an inquiry, saying Mkhwebane had “grossly over-reached her powers when she recommended, in her report No 8 of 2017/18 (the Absa/Bankorp Report), that the Constitution be amended to alter the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank”.
Mkhwebane was taken to court by the South African Reserve Bank, who have asked the high court in Pretoria to issue a declaratory order against her for abusing her office.
READ: Absa says Mkhwebane failed to conduct fair probe into Bankorp
In August, the court dismissed Mkhwebane’s remedial action on her report on the SARB’s apartheid-era bailout of Absa/Bankorp.
The justice portfolio committee in its report said the DA’s request for an inquiry was politically motivated. Ruling African National Congress MP Makgathatso Pilane-Majake defended Mkhwebane, saying there was no basis for Parliament to institute removal proceedings against her.
“From the onset the DA was the only party that did not support the appointment of the public protector,” said Pilaje-Majake.
“The public protector had made a mistake she acknowledged, like it happens in all arms of state.”
But DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach slammed the ANC for its stance.
“They [ANC] want her because she consults with the president and amends her reports to accommodate him,” said Breytenbach, referring to Mkhwebane meeting with representatives of the presidency and the State Security Agency before finalising her Absa/Bankorp report.
“She’s a public protector who hasn’t got the slightest grasp of what it is to be independent. She’s not independent. She’s not impartial and not fit to hold office and we reject this report.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) also rejected the committee not conducting an inquiry, saying Parliament has “absconded” in holding her to account.
“This is unbelievable circumventing of process that has become synonymous with [President] Zuma,” said EFF MP Thembinkosi Rawula.
“She [Mkhwebane] has a strange relationship with honesty.”
The Inkatha Freedom Party and African Christian Democratic Party also dismissed the decision of the justice committee.
The matter was later put to a vote, with the ANC using its majority to approve the report, essentially stopping an inquiry into Mkhwebane from taking place.
African News Agency
CAPE TOWN – South Africa has joined the international community in strongly condemning and denouncing reports of slave trade of African migrants in Libya.
“These inhumane acts are incongruent with the ideals of the African Union and relevant African and international instruments, including the African charter on human and peoples’ rights,” said the department of International relations and cooperation in a statement on Wednesday.
“South Africa calls for an immediate end to these atrocities and other criminal acts of human trafficking. South Africa welcomes the announcement by the Libyan authorities to investigate and identify all the perpetrators and accomplices of these criminal acts and looks forward to a transparent and credible investigation,” the department added.
The statement follows recent videos and pictures of the alleged underground slave trade which was aired by broadcaster CNN and which has sparked international outrage.
The department said publishing the outcome of the investigation will be the most prudent and welcome thing to do by the Libyan authorities.
“We further urge the Libyan authorities to do everything in their power to improve the conditions of African migrants in the camps meant to house migrants on their territory. South Africa will continue its work to eradicate human trafficking and support international efforts to bring those who abuse vulnerable people to justice. We will continue to champion the respect for human rights, especially those of our fellow African brothers and sisters.”
African News Agency
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