Thank you. Since 2009 the SSA became the go-to agency to deal with factional ANC battles. It also became a law unto itself in terms of unconstitutional, illegal operations and a major source of looted cash. How much of the R1,5 trillion lost to state capture was channelled through the SSA has yet to be established. Perhaps a good place to start is finding out who to blame for the monumental blunder that was the amalgamation of the NIA and SA State Security, SASS into the SSA?
One would have expected a rash of arrests after these thefts. But no, instead they are re-vetting agents. It goes like this: Police
Intelligence are looking into their national intelligence colleagues to see if they can find the billion rand. Disgruntled SSA employees are saying the re-vetting would be used to purge those loyal to Fraser and by extension, to Zuma.
But on the flip side, the re-vetting is being conducted by Mdluli Inc. So, quite possibly, by a member of the Mdluli family itself. And we all know where his and their loyalties lie, so they've got your back. The former Minister said she believed those calling on this country's spies to defy her orders for re-vetting were the main culprits in the looting spree. But the moment she was booted out, the open doors and windows letting the sun shine in and on the SSA were slammed shut once again.
We need a total review of how this oversight body made up of hon MPs, is kept in the dark; we need a total review of the intelligence structures; we need an Inspector-General of Intelligence willing, able and allowed to do the job and we need to do whatever it takes to restore the very credibility of an entity which currently squats in the dark like a bloated, silent cash- cow being milked by the politically connected.
The SSA's job is to first and foremost keep South Africans safe from internal and external threats to this country's security, not jump on journalists, whisk away whistleblowers or corruptly consume our cash. There is a battle brewing. Fraser was moved, not fired. What does that tell you? Is it possible to turn the SSA into a globally admired force against foreign and domestic threats?
Is it possible to move it away from being a political plaything knee-deep in factional fights while the bombs go off in our mosques? Is it possible to unweave the tangled web woven between the SSA, Crime Intelligence and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID? There is a grubby, stolen golden thread running through the entire system.
Minister, it's an Augean stable. Do you have the political will to overhaul the entire entity with the High Level Report held in your right hand, implementing the recommendations without fear or favour?
In all probability, we'll probably never know. And even if we do, we won't be allowed to tell you. [Applause.]