Stefaans BrUmmer
WERNER VAN GREUNEN — who this week implicated Deputy President Thabo Mbeki when he claimed to have spied on “National Party” and “Broederbond” municipal officials in Gauteng — was a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) “source”.
But it appears his brief went no further than to report on threats against last November’s local government elections, a legitimate area of inquiry for the intelligence service.
Mbeki acknowledged he and Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi had twice met Van Greunen, secretary of North-East Rand Transitional Metropolitan Council mayor Isaac Mahlangu, but strongly denied it was about spying on NP officials. Indeed, it seems highly unlikely Mbeki or Mufamadi would have involved themselves in the political affairs of officials at municipal level.
Mbeki’s representative Ricky Naidoo said Van Greunen had approached Mbeki, claiming to have information of “serious criminal misconduct”, but that in two subsequent meetings it “became clear he had nothing concrete”. He never mentioned his contact with the NIA, Naidoo said. Similarly, the NIA is understood to be arguing it was not aware of Van Greunen’s contact with Mbeki or Mufamadi.
Ironically, Van Greunen’s handlers at the NIA appear to have been predominantly from the old National Intelligence Service — making it less likely they would have targeted “Broederbonders”, as Van Greunen claimed in initial reports in Beeld newspaper.
It is understood reports Van Greunen presented to his handlers at the NIA contain “nothing hair-raising”. There would have been details of, for example, a voting box, midway between an African National Congress and an Inkatha Freedom Party area, moved 300m during the night; or of interference in an election campaigner’s work.
NIA representative Willem Theron maintained this week no-one would be spied on because of their political affiliations, but also said no-one had immunity, “not even if he sits in Parliament”, should there be reason to believe the person was involved in unconstitutional
North-East Rand Transitional Metropolitan Council chief executive Hans MUller this week said Van Greunen’s confession to police about his spying activities followed immediately on a council investigation against him. He had allegedly issued unauthorised cheques, hired cars he was not entitled to, and “pretended to be the mayor”. MUller also charged Van Greunen had used different names at different times.
Van Greunen, who resigned from the council post last Friday, could not be contacted for
Van Greunen’s allegations came in the wake of an avalanche of bugging allegations, reinforced this week when a “tracking device” was found in Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom’s vehicle. Fingers have been pointed repeatedly at the NIA, which is struggling to prove its post-apartheid credentials. But experts have pointed out, as the NIA itself said in a statement this week, that the intelligence agency would “do it more professionally than these obviously amateurish
The bugging storm broke earlier this month when Police Commissioner George Fivaz said evidence of bugging had been found in the offices or homes of three senior police officials, and that renegade policeman Dirk Coetzee, now with NIA, had acknowledged to police Inspector HT Moodley that NIA was behind the bugging.
Coetzee denied he had told Moodley he or NIA had anything to do with it, and inquiries by Parliament’s watchdog Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and a judge were an-nounced. Last week, round one went to NIA: Coetzee passed a lie detector test when questioned on his version.
In at least one of the cases, where wires that “could have” been used for bugging purposes were found in the office of Gauteng Police Commissioner Sharma Maharaj, experts point out that the threat may have been greatly exaggerated — the wires could, for example, have been from a device that Maharaj’s predecessor used to tape his own meetings.
When it was revealed this week a “tracking device” had been found in Hanekom’s car, fingers were again pointed at NIA. Some speculation had it that the gadget was part of an anti-hijack system, but police seem to have ruled out that possibility. Yet, the fact that it had been mounted on the outside of the steering column, where it was visible, points to amateurish work.