Cape Town - The Inspector-General of Intelligence, Setlhomamaru Dintwe, has applied for a court interdict against State Security Agency head Arthur Fraser to prevent him from interfering with his work.
Dintwe said Fraser, the director-general of the SSA, has been obstructing the functioning of his office in order to stop it from investigating serious allegations against him.
The tug of war has seen Dintwe stripped of his security clearance. He said Fraser's actions were unconstitutional and he had no choice but to turn to the courts.
"Given the brazen and unlawful actions by the Director-General, I have made an urgent application to the High Court for an order setting aside the revocation of my security clearance and an interdict against the Director-General from interfering with my functions.
"I have also asked the Court to order the Director-General to co-operate in respect of my investigations, including the investigations regarding complaints against him. I have furthermore asked the Court to put in place measures to ensure my personal security."
The DA said it would be writing to President Cyril Ramaphosa to request that he suspend Fraser pending an investigation into the allegations against him which include threatening and intimidating Dintwe, not cooperating with the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence, and employing “underhand(ed) tactics”.
The party said it had vehemently opposed Fraser's appointment by then-president Jacob Zuma in September 2016 because it was aware of his past.
"Since then our worst fears have been realised with the politicisation of the intelligence services, perhaps epitomised by the dubious intelligence report that was used as a pretext to fire then-Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, and his deputy in March 2017.
"In September of the same year we asked the IGI to urgently probe allegations of a covert unit operating within the SSA targeting Zuma’s political opponents and reporting directly to him and then-Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo," the DA said.