Members of a VIP police unit are the main suspects in a wave of sabotage at the provincial government offices in Johanesburg, reports Eddie Koch
A BUG found in the office of Mary Metcalfe, education minister for the PWV region, has fuelled fears that conservative civil servants and sections of the police are intent on undermining the new provincial government.
A source close to the provincial cabinet told the WM&G the bug was the latest in a campaign of espionage and low-key sabotage. Chief suspects, says the source, are members of the VIP police unit appointed to guard the government’s building at 30 Sim-monds Street, Johannesburg.
The incidents described include mystery burglaries, tampering with computer disks in ministries that are implementing key as-pects of the reconstruction and development programme, the placing of officials to “spy” on government officials, and snooping through documents and computer files. “There were sometimes more than two incidents in a week,” says the source.
* A ministry official who went to the offices at 2am caught a member of the VIP police protection unit going through a filing cabinet.
* A civil servant from the old TPA administration has informed officials of PWV premier Tokyo Sexwale that conservative officials have been “sent with a mission” to spy on the new government and obstruct its work.
* In another key ministry, a policeman from the VIP unit was found going through important computer files.
* Computer files in the Min-istry of Land and Rural Develop-ment were deliberately destroyed. “This was not a case of a disk being damaged. Each individual file had been deliberately and systematically deleted.”
* In another case, Sexwale’s office on the 14th floor of the Simmonds Street building was mysteriously burgled — even though it is guarded by the protection unit.
The source believes the motivation of those carrying out espionage at the PWV government’s headquarters is similar to that of senior officials at the Develop-ment Bank of Southern Africa recently accused of plotting to ensure that the RDP would not be effectively implemented.
Asked why these incidents had not been reported to the police for investigation, the source said they had been uncovered by fairly junior staff who reported to their superiors. “Generally it is difficult to ask the police to investigate when people think it is the police that are involved.”
Some staffers in the regional government’s building say there is an aura of suspicion in the Simmonds Street building and that, because of this, the security problems may be exaggerated.
Says Chris Vick, communications director in Sexwale’s office: “We are trying to keep an open mind on the whole issue. But there have been a number of different incidents and they are too many to be merely coincidental. We cannot exclude the possibility that they are being carried out by a group with a specific agenda.” The PWV cabinet was due to discuss the incidents and the question of security at its premises this week.
Met-calfe said she was waiting for a report on the bug in her office before deciding whether to call for an in-depth investigation into the matter.
A spokesman for police public relations said the allegations were vague.
“If these alleged incidents took place then the people who are making the allegations must report them. They will then be investigated and only after that will we be able to comment.”