Former spy boss Billy Masetlha had tried to advance Jacob Zuma's political career, the Pretoria specialised commercial crime court heard on Thursday.
Testifying for the second day, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils said it appeared that from the Inspector-general's report that Masetlha was trying to advance Zuma's career prior to the party conference in Polokwane last year. Zuma was then ANC deputy president.
The report focused on the surveillance of businessman Saki Macozoma and contained documents on the so-called email hoax saga.
Touching on whether Masetlha was a trustworthy person, Kasrils referred to Project Fairwood.
The court heard that the project was established to determine with whom members of the Foreign Intelligence Service were liaising in South Africa.
Continues Below ↓
Kasrils said the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) at the time was spying on foreign agents and at one point wanted to intersect an agent who was coming into the country.
However, contact with the agent was lost until the agent was spotted later on at a restaurant with Macozoma. The two exchanged greetings.
Following this incident, the surveillance of Macozoma began by the NIA.
Kasrils said the fact that the agent was spotted in the same "coffee bar" in which Macozoma was did not necessarily mean that the two had links.
Asked about what led to Masetlha's suspension and subsequent dismissal, the minister said this was not because Masetlha seemed to be supporting Zuma but that the president had lost trust in him. - Sapa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
