Durban - The omission of strategic locations in KwaZulu-Natal from the list of national key points such as the Bluff military base and the SAPS provincial headquarters, has raised eyebrows.
Among the 47 KZN sites on the list, which was released last week, are the SABC offices in Durban, President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home and the provincial legislature.
The National Key Points Act has hitherto been used to keep the list secret, as well as to quell protests and prevent photographs being taken of the sites.
The DA’s spokeswoman on policing matters, MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, said there was nothing on the list that in any way could be perceived as a threat to the security of the country.
“We know why the SABC is there, the harbour, the fuel lines, etc, but why are the homes of presidents on the list and not military bases?”
Air Force Base Waterkloof, where the Gupta family landed a chartered plane for a wedding in 2013, is not a national key point.
Other sites that have been listed as key points in KZN include the Reserve Bank building in the city centre, JL Dube House (former Kings House) the presidential residence in Durban, King Shaka International Airport, Engen Refinery in Wentworth and the Drakensberg power station.
Kohler Barnard said it was “extraordinary” that military bases had been omitted.
“The list should contain the names of places, that if they were taken over by terrorists or a foreign power, have the potential to cause harm to the country,” she said.
“There are many exiled presidents from other countries whose children attend private schools and who are provided with taxpayer-funded bodyguards whose homes are not on the list.
“It is very curious. The thought has crossed my mind that the minister (of police Nkosinathi Nhleko) threw in the towel and has deliberately taken some places off the list to appease the public.”
The minister’s spokesman, Musa Zondi, said on Sunday that Kohler Barnard was “playing politics”.
“Why would the minister do that? It is absurd,” he said.
The full list was released on Friday after a two-year legal tussle between the SAPS on the one hand and the Right2Know Campaign (R2K) and the SA History Archive (Saha) on the other.
The Johannesburg High Court ruled in favour of R2K and Saha on December 3, and ordered the SAPS to disclose the list of protected areas within 30 days.
This was after the police refused to disclose the full list of key points, arguing that doing so would attract the interest of anyone seeking to cause harm.
In papers filed before the court, the SAPS said: “One can never know how information regarding the national key points will be used if it becomes public. The gist of the matter is that a place might have been regarded as insignificant in the eyes of people who seek to hurt the public, but may attract (attention) if it is known that it is a national key point.”
But Judge Roland Sutherland found that it was “unlawful and unconstitutional” to not reveal the key points.
R2K and Saha applauded the decision to release the list.
“This decision is a small but significant victory towards our efforts of promoting the principles of accountability and transparency within the government.
“We believe this basic transparency is an important step in countering the uncontrolled secrecy and potential abuse of South Africa’s ‘national security’ policies,” the organisations said in a joint statement.
“We maintain that the blanket secrecy over which sites have been declared National Key Points has helped officials and politicians to use and abuse the National Key Points Act to undermine our constitutional rights.
“The secret implementation of the act, in which decisions are taken behind closed doors in terms of vague and open-ended regulations, has contributed to a worrying resurgence of secrecy.”
Murray Hunter of R2K said the next step for them would be to have the act repealed.
“We believe there is no place in our democracy for National Key Points and we’ll campaign to have the act scrapped, not amended,” he said.
List of KZN national key points:
* SABC Durban
* Total SA (Cutler)
* Acacia Operations Services (Heartland Leasing)
* Engen Depot
* Total Depot (Cutler)
* Valvoline Depot (Cutler)
* PD Terminals Depot (Cutler)
* Caleb Brett (Cutler)
* Industrial Oil Processors (Cutler)
* Durban Bulk Shipping (Cutler)
* SA Petroleum Refinery (Sapref) (Cutler)
* SA Pretroleum Refinery (Sapref) Reunion
* Engen Refinery
* Natcos (Cutler)
* Natcos
* Single Buoy Mooring
* Transnet Pumping Station: Newcastle
* Impala Transmission Station
* Klaarwater Distribution Station
* Pegasus Transmission Station
* Drakensberg Power Station
* Island View Storage (Cutler)
* Caltex Depot (Cutler)
* Zenex Depot (Cutler)
* Durban South Distribution Station
* Transnet Pumping Stations: Ladysmith, Cutler, Quegga’s Nek, Hillcrest, Howick and Van Reenen.
* President of SA Residence – KZN (Nkandla)
* Presidential residence – JL Dube House
* New Aviation Fuel Depot at King Shaka International Airport
* King Shaka International Airport Air Side
* Durban North Distribution Station
* Athene Transmission Station
* Lotus Park Distribution station
* SA Reserve Bank: Durban
* TPL Depots: Duzi, Mooi River, Fortmistake, Ladysmith, Mngeni, Mnambithi, Ntwini and Hilltop.
* KZN Provincial Legislature
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