Durban - The State Security Agency has dismissed top spy Thulani 'Silence' Dlomo eight months after he was recalled from his role as South Africa’s ambassador to Japan and told to return to work at the agency.
Although Dlomo left his ambassadorial role, he did not return to the agency and has been AWOL since his recall in January 2019. Dlomo, considered an ally of former president Jacob Zuma, was sent to Japan in August 2017.
He began working at the State Security Agency in 2012 when he was appointed to head up the Special Operations Unit.
In September Darren Bergman, the Democratic Alliance’s Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, wrote to State Security Agency Minister Ayanda Dlodlo to “urgently answer on the whereabouts of Former President Jacob Zuma’s former ally and top spy” Dlomo.
“Given the myriad of allegations against him and his purported role in State Capture, the public requires clarity on Dlomo’s whereabouts and whether he is currently in the employ of the state.
“It cannot be that an individual with such close ties to State Capture and the manipulation of the state machinery could potentially be living off the public’s money, whilst evading accountability,” Bergman said last month.
Media reports quote SSA Domestic Branch Director Sam Muofhe saying that Dlomo’s salary and benefits such as medical aid had been stopped and that he would not be paid later this month. “It has taken long because he’s been so evasive,’’ Muofhe said.
SSA Minister Ayanda Dlodlo was also quoted, saying that Dlomo’s letter of dismissal had been finalised, although she did not know whether he had received it. However, Muofhe said that Dlomo had not received the letter.
“The letter was signed. We dispatched our officials to look for him (Dlomo) and he is nowhere to be found. We are doing everything by the book,” Muofhe said.