Gaye Davis
PARLIAMENT’S watchdog over the intelligence community faces its most crucial test as it prepares to uncover the truth behind the police spying scandal.
The Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence thrashed out its terms of reference for its investigation into police claims that top members were being spied on by agents of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), which has denied the allegations, during a five-hour meeting behind closed doors this week.
“We have already had our battles with the intelligence services. How we deal with this case is a test for us as far as the public is concerned,” committee chair, African National Congress MP Lindiwe Sisulu-Guma, told the Mail & Guardian.
The committee is responsible for monitoring the two national intelligence services — the NIA, which deals with domestic threats, and the South African Secret Service, which deals with external threats — as well as the intelligence arms of the police and defence force. Its power lies in its legislated right to approve or veto budgets: “We hold the purse-strings,” said Sisulu-Guma.
Public interviews of seven nominees shortlisted for the post of Inspector General of Intelligence — a civilian who will deal with complaints of abuses from the public and within the services themselves — start on February 20.
The candidates have been drawn from a list of nominees submitted by all seven political parties and three nominated by members of the
The final choice must be approved by a 75 percent majority in Parliament — more than the two-thirds required to amend the constitution, because of the nature of the
Since it started work four months ago, the committee has had to scrutinise intelligence budgets, learn about the services it is supposed to monitor, and find a balance between transparency and secrecy.
“It’s the most difficult balancing act imaginable. We must do it properly or the concept of transparency will be destroyed.” It will report to Parliament on its work during February. “Nothing will be excluded without our first consulting all the political parties and nothing will be included that jeopardises the national interest.”
The committee meets on February 7 to consider reports on the spying scandal it has called for from the police and the NIA, and to decide whom to subpoena to give evidence. It will investigate the truth of allegations of the use of bugs and other surveillance of senior police officers and prepare a report, with recommendations, for parliament and the