OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 9.15pm.
A PARLIAMENTARY report on Tuesday on an investigation into allegations that South African Secret Service members were involved in smuggling Zairean generals and their loot into South Africa last year singularly failed to report any conclusive findings.
Instead the document merely recommends tighter border controls.
The multi-party committee was part of a special investigation team set up last year by Deputy Intelligence Services Minister Joel Nhlanhla to probe news reports that South African intelligence services members helped Zairean generals loyal to dictator Mobutu sese Seko smuggle loot into South Africa shortly before Mobutu was toppled by Laurent Kabila.
The team instead failed to address any of the issues it was tasked to investigate. These included a probe of SASS involvement in the smuggling of millions in dollars, and whether agents chartered a private jet for the generals’ “legal or illegal” use.
The team was also instructed to give an account of all aircraft used to fly in Zairean officials and assets, to give an account of how airports, and Johannesburg International in particular, were monitored by the intelligence community, and to probe leaks to the media.
The report, however, is silent on all these aspects. The committee, which acts as Parliament’s watchdog over the intelligence services, meets behind closed doors, but is obliged to report to Parliament.