A FORMER president, current and erstwhile Cabinet ministers, judges, senior government officials, journalists and even an apartheid death squad commander were this week outed as beneficiaries of the State Security Agency’s (SSA’s) largesse this week.
Four witnesses laid bare the misappropriation of millions of rand from the SSA, largely to protect or at the behest of former president Jacob Zuma, at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
The bulk of this week’s proceedings were taken by a secret witness only identified as “Ms K” for her safety.
Ms K, the project manager of “Project Veza”, which is probing widespread looting at the SSA, testified to support the evidence of another of the agency’s officials, codenamed Mr Y.
After initial objections and accusations of bias by the commission and its evidence leaders from former SSA director-general Arthur Fraser’s lawyer Rapulane Kgoroeadira, its chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo granted Ms K permission to give her evidence in secret and ordered that neither her photographs nor identity be revealed or published.
She wasted no time in implicating a number of high profile individuals.
Millions of rands allegedly destined for Zuma, Ms K said, were withdrawn from the SSA and delivered by former state security minister David Mahlobo, now deputy human settlements, water and sanitation minister.
She testified Mahlobo was directly involved in operations and in handling cash withdrawn for the chief directorate for special operations.
Ms K said Project Veza had not found evidence that Zuma indeed received these monies.
The SSA also set up a private protection unit for Zuma and guarded the presidential aircraft, usurping the functions of the SA Police Service and the SA National Defence Force, Ms K testified.
Mahlobo, Siyabonga Cwele and Bongani Bongo, also former state security ministers under former president Zuma, were fingered in the abuse of the agency and its mandate at executive level.
Their enforcers executing or implementing this abuse were primarily but not exclusively former SSA special operations unit boss Fraser, Thulani Dlomo and another former SSA director-general Sonto Kudjoe, among others, according to Ms K.
She said the SSA also established “Operation or Project Justice” to influence, recruit and handle sources within the judiciary.
Extraordinarily, Ms K revealed that sources meant members of the judiciary.
She said Frank, a pseudonym, confirmed to the Project Veza investigation team that he was instructed to deliver money regularly to Mahlobo for Project Justice starting at R1.3 million but extending upward to R21.8m.
Ms K also corroborated former safety and security minister Dr Sydney Mufamadi’s revelations that the SSA set up “Operation Lock” to provide safe houses and protection for apartheid death squad commander Eugene de Kock after his release on parole in 2015.
According to Mufamadi, the director of the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Public Policy and African Studies, the high-level review panel on the SSA appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 which he chaired, said prior to De Kock's release he had been assisting the National Prosecuting Authority's missing persons task team to locate the bodies of murdered anti-apartheid activists.
He said the task team informed the panel that the SSA blocked access to De Kock for some time.
Ms K explained that “Operation Lock” received between R100 000 and R200 000 a month to lease safe houses, pay for living expenses and a R40 000 salary for the former Vlakplaas death squad commander.
Acting SSA director-general Loyiso Jafta also detailed how the agency unlawfully detained one of Zuma’s estranged wives Nompumelelo Zuma, who is popularly known as MaNtuli, during its probe into the ex-president’s poisoning.
Justice Zondo described the matter as “quite serious”.
”It would be detention by an organ of state in circumstances where no law allowed the organ of state to detain her. It would be quite serious,” he said.
The commission has also set its sights on journalists on the SSA’s payroll.
Head of the commission’s legal team Paul Pretorius undertook this week to place on record before Justice Zondo individuals within the media who received money as part of Project Wave after considering the importance of this explosive information.
Mr Y’s evidence also indicated that among the SSA’s areas of interest were media houses which sometimes prove to be one of the most difficult to penetrate for two reasons – the remuneration demands were higher than the operatives could offer or the targeted media house was equally on a security alert hence immune to approach or to be recruited.
”We have a number of positions that received monies in the media but we just have to consider whether giving that money would identify the person and if it identifies the person we need to issue (rule 3.3) notices,” Pretorius promised.
Political Bureau