President Thabo Mbeki has warned against attempts to exploit Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani’s report on the hoax African National Congress e-mails.
The Presidency had noted Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon’s public call for Mbeki to establish a judicial commission of enquiry ”to investigate the mandate and activities of the national intelligence structure”, Mbeki’s office said on Monday.
”The Presidency will study the reported written correspondence from the DA, and if necessary, issue a statement in due course.
”Meanwhile, the Presidency wishes to advise that neither is there a need for anyone to communicate with the president through the media, nor will any political party or the country benefit from attempts to exploit the findings of the Intelligence Inspector General’s investigation,” Mbeki’s office said.
Leon’s call on Sunday followed media reports that the DA’s parliamentary offices were among 13 targets whose phone calls were unlawfully intercepted by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
Leon told a media briefing that among the questions that needed to be answered was how much Mbeki himself knew about NIA’s Project Avani, an officially sanctioned operation to look at the political dynamics within the ANC and between parties.
”You cannot have a constitutional democracy with the NIA behaving in this fashion,” he said.
Leon said the probe should also look at South Africa’s national security doctrine, ”because the current doctrine virtually gives a blank cheque to spy on anybody in South Africa for any reason, without let or hindrance”.
DA officials said the information that the party’s parliamentary offices had been targeted was apparently contained in a more comprehensive version of Ngcakani’s report, which had not been made public.
Earlier on Monday, DA intelligence spokesperson Paul Swart wrote to Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils to demand the return of all information gathered by the NIA during illegal spying on its offices.
In the letter, Swart said: ”As the surveillance in question is alleged to have been carried out illegally, all transcripts of telephone conversations, intercepted e-mails, as well as all other information obtained that involves any member of the DA or its support staff cannot be legitimately retained by the intelligence services.
”If it is not returned, then this will constitute a further violation of the constitutionally entrenched rights to privacy and dignity of the DA, its office-bearers and support staff.”
There was every chance that the information concerned could relate to confidential party matters, and if it were to land in the hands of the DA’s political competitors, could be used to the DA’s disadvantage, Swart said. — Sapa