Cape Town - A national operational and intelligence structure has stepped into security matters at Parliament and the nine provincial legislatures, with orders for “weekly risk and threat assessments to direct the weekly operations” and for provincial police commissioners to provide riot police and reaction capacity.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) brings together the police, SANDF and State Security Agency in a structure which was established without a law to co-ordinate within the justice, crime prevention and security departments. It has also set up a “stability RSA priority committee” to manage “immediate security threats to stability”, according to a recent police briefing to MPs, following priorities of the only statutory co-ordinating structure, the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee, which brings together the intelligence services of police, defence and the domestic and foreign branches of state security.
According to the Natjoints instruction dated August 26, police operational division head Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela said each province must establish a priority committee and “develop a stringent security plan for safeguarding the national Parliament and provincial legislatures”.
This instruction came just five days after the EFF’s “pay back the money” fracas led to the abandonment of presidential question time in the National Assembly, and several weeks after the stand- off between EFF protesters and police at the Gauteng legislature. These are expressly mentioned in the instructions.
“The incidents impacts (sic) negatively on the integrity of Parliament, legislature, the image of the president and the entire executive, the status of Parliament and the Office of the Speaker of the National Assembly and legislatures, and may create a perception that the rule of law is under threat,” the document says.
Under the heading “National Joint Operational Instructions 35 of 2014: Procedure for dealing with persons creating disturbances in Parliament and provincial legislatures”, the document requires:
* “Weekly risk and threat assessments to direct the weekly operations”.
* “The provincial commissioners to provide POP (public order police) and reaction capability” to support police deployed in Parliament and the legislatures.
* Monthly reports to be given by provinces to the Natjoints, which then gives quarterly reports to the justice, crime prevention and security cluster ministers.
Parliament last night said it was unaware of any such security measures, adding it could not comment on documents it had not seen.
Cape Argus