Eddie Koch=20
THE National Intelligence Agency (NIA) this week denied =20 media reports that its director general Sizakele =20 Whijmore Sigxashe threatened to shoot his wife and =20 children on Tuesday night and refused to hand over his =20 firearm to a police patrol that was called to the =20 scene. =20
An NIA press statement confirmed that police intervened =20 in a domestic quarrel at the Sigxashe home but said no =20 firearms or threats of violence were used in the =20
Willem Theron, NIA director of media and =20 communications, said it was likely that false =20 information was being planted on journalists about the =20 Sixgashe affair, and also the recent death of =20 intelligence agent Mziwendoda Mdhluli, by rival agents =20 caught up in a complex set of historic conflicts =20 between the old National Intelligence Service, police =20 intelligence and the Department of Military =20 Intelligence. =20
He singled out “sources” who told a daily newspaper =20 this week that Mdhluli’s death had exposed =20 fragmentation and disarray in the organisation as an =20 example of the false reports that were “obviously out =20 to damage the credibility and integrity of the NIA”. He =20 warned that uncritical use of this kind of information =20 amounted to “long-knife” journalism. =20
Meanwhile Sigxashe’s colleagues have expressed surprise =20 at news that he is going through a period of domestic =20 turmoil. They say the intelligence boss is a reserved =20 man who appeared to have a “quiet and steady” =20 temperament. =20
It appears that Sigxashe did have a quarrel with his =20 wife over a meal on Tuesday night and threw a plate of =20 food at her. =20
There is no evidence that a weapon was used in the spat =20 although, after the event, the police tried to =20 confiscate a hand gun that was locked up in the =20 intelligence chief’s safe.=20
An NIA statement said: “At no time was the life or =20 person of anyone in the Sixgashe household threatened. =20 It is rather unfortunate that a minor family dispute =20 should find its way into the media in such dramatic =20
Sigxashe is one of the early generation of ANC =20 activists who went into exile soon after the Rivonia =20 trial in the 1960s. He was expelled from Fort Hare =20 during the many student protests that rocked the =20 university at the time.=20
Soon after fleeing the country to join the ANC’s =20 underground, Sigxashe went to the Soviet Union where he =20 completed a PhD in economics. From there he went to =20 Tanzania and taught in Dar es Salaam while doing =20 underground work for the ANC.=20
He joined Umkhonto we Sizwe’s intelligence arm when it =20 was formed in 1978 and was rewarded for his long =20 service in the organisation — as one of its low-key =20 background boys rather than a high-profile activist — =20 by being given the post as director general of the =20 NIA’s domestic operations.=20