The people behind the hoax e-mails that sought to implicate influential figures in the African National Congress in a plot against Jacob Zuma would be charged ”very soon”, national police commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Saturday.
”It was mischief of the highest order, very dangerous mischief at that, threatening the security of the state,” he told a media briefing, along with the heads of the country’s intelligence agencies in Pretoria. However it was too early to say if the charge would be treason.
Selebi’s statement comes after a decision by President Thabo Mbeki earlier this week, to fire the head of the National Intelligence Agency, Billy Masetlha.
Masetlha and two other top spies were suspended from their posts last year after businessman Saki Macozoma, supposed author of some of the e-mails and an influential figure in the ANC, complained of an illegal surveillance operation against him.
Selebi said it was clear from a report by Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani, which was made public this week, that no e-mails were exchanged between the individuals who were said to be communicating.
”It is clear that that someone sat and typed what looked like an e-mail, so someone made out a conversation between two people that never had a conversation.
”That person would be one of the people who will be charged very soon.”
This was the same person who was allegedly paid for intercepting e-mails.
”From there on we will see how do we charge those who assisted him or worked with him in order to bring about this whole saga of the so-called e-mails.”
Only after the docket had been taken to the national director of public prosecutions would charges be formulated.
”We are not there yet, of saying treason or not treason,” Selebi said in reply to a question. ”The investigation will lead us to one form or another of a charge. Whether it’s going to be treason, whether it’s going to be something else, we are not there yet.”
Ngcakani said almost 100 e-mails were created to look as they were sent and intercepted between February and October last year.
Besides the anti-Zuma ”plot” — in which Macozoma was supposed to have exchanged congratulatory messages with former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka — the e-mails also speak of alleged sexual relations between President Thabo Mbeki and female Cabinet ministers, Tony Leon as part of the ”white man[‘s] struggle”, and racist communications between Scorpions investigators.
In his report Ngcakani found the e-mails to be part of a conspiracy to mislead NIA agents who were looking into the political situation in the country in a valid NIA operation codenamed Project Avani.
He found the project team tried to validate the e-mails but was prevented from doing so by Masetlha.
The officials at Saturday’s briefing, who included the acting director general of NIA Manala Manzini, his counterpart at the SA Secret Service Hilton Dennis, and head of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee Barry Gilder, said in a statement that they accepted Ngcakani’s report ”without reservation”.
”We have been very embarrassed by all the events surrounding the alleged intercepted e-mails and chat-room conversations,” they said.
”Events around them smack and remind us of the pre-1994 intelligence dispensation.”
They said they would institute measures — which they did not specify — to prevent such a situation from recurring.
Gilder said the agencies provided a lot of good and valuable intelligence.
The e-mails incident was an example of something going wrong.
”This is not a reflection of how NIA or any of the other agencies are working,” he said.
Added Selebi: ”It just happened that a few people took a wrong turn, and that turn has consequences far greater than what they thought they were doing.
”It would be bad to take these few and paint the rest of the people in that way.” – Sapa