Johannesburg - Anti-apartheid activist Reverend Frank Chikane has recounted how unknown people used a spying device to listen to his cellphone conversations and monitor his movements – eventually destroying his potentially lucrative business interests.
The former director-general in the Presidency and cabinet secretary said this had happened between 2009 and 2010, shortly after he left the government.
Chikane said the alleged spies went on to intercept the cellphones of his family members and also monitored their movements.
He said they received threatening calls which caused panic and tension among his family. Even if his calls had been tapped for commercial purposes, Chikane believed his life was at risk.
“These people would know if you were supposed to have a meeting at a certain place or if you are in Durban, and even tell you the name of the street. The caller would say ’we know where you are; you must watch your step’.”
It wasn’t the first time the reverend had been targeted.
In late 1989, agents of the apartheid government attempted to assassinate him by lacing his underwear with Paraoxon, a lethal nerve poison.
Chikane had been a director-general of the anti-apartheid South African Council of Churches.
He broke his silence after the police arrested Willie Lotter and two men at the Irene Village Mall in Centurion.
They were found in possession of a super-spying machine, which is also known as The Grabber.
The spying gadget, which was custom-made, can bug up to 10 000 cellphone lines live and locate any person. It can jam networks, download and intercept SMSes, send SMSes to any number, and detect other surveillance devices and block them. It can also gain access to bank accounts.
The acquisition of the machine – the first generation Mobile GSM tracking and locating equipment – is highly regulated, internationally and in South Africa. Here it belongs to a category of special equipment – used in the interest of national security – and can be bought only with special presidential authority.
Chikane said that after he realised somebody was spying on him, he thought “it could be rogue elements within the intelligence service or former intelligence operatives who had formed their own security companies”.
He said he also suspected business people, who could acquire the machine to spy on their rivals, or some corrupt elements using a cellphone company to have access to his cellphone conversations.
Chikane said there was no way an ordinary business person could have this equipment. “Only corruption can make this possible.”
He said his family members received mysterious calls and SMSes for three months.
“It was very strange. The SMS would appear as if it came from a family member, but when you ask them (other family members), they would say ‘I never sent such an SMS’. I became very worried about the safety of my family.”
Chikane said most of the calls were related to his business deal, while some made it clear that these callers knew about his movements.
Although he didn’t want to divulge information about the deal, he said it had been lucrative. He said he had met the chief executive of a company.
“The business was real but it was destroyed after that interference. It was going to be a very big operation. We even promised people jobs,” he said, adding that he had lost the money he had invested.
Chikane said he knew people who were interested in the business deal but he didn’t want to speculate on who they were.
He said he reported the matter to the intelligence branch and the police, but was unable to find out who was spying on him as the numbers couldn’t be traced.
“I felt that if I’m not protected by the state, I’m vulnerable. I felt my rights were violated. I went to the police twice but they were unable to find anything.”
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said it would be difficult to find out the outcome of the investigation if he didn’t have the case number.
The Star