Pretoria, November 2005
IT WAS NECESSARY TO KEEP the intelligence agencies and services fully briefed on the extraordinary events taking place and the key lessons that should be learnt. I needed to clarify issues and counter speculation rife among staff and the media. Of particular concern was the appearance of the clearly fake emails, reinforcing the allegations of a conspiracy to prevent Jacob Zuma from becoming president.
I consequently issued a public statement, warning against ‘sinister emails’ doing the rounds, labelling them ‘clearly fraudulent’ and ‘reminiscent of Stratcom1 operations during the apartheid era’. This was widely reported in the media.2 I urgently needed to appoint an acting director general in Masetlha’s place, and had little choice about the candidates. The appointee was Manala Manzini, who was held in esteem by the ANC and, most importantly given the uneasy situation, commanded a high degree of authority. It was that quality that I believed was most needed if we were to limit the damage to the morale of the intelligence community.
I introduced him to the top management at a special briefing the day after Masetlha’s suspension. The inspector general reported on his investigation, findings and recommendations. I took the opportunity to once again elaborate on the five principles of intelligence.3
Turning to the oath of allegiance, I continued: ‘Like you I have sworn an oath of allegiance … [to] serve the Constitution and the laws of the country … the President … and the people of our country. I cannot … turn a blind eye to any infringements … We cannot … bend the rules … we cannot put our own interests above that of the national interest. Once we do so we set ourselves on a slippery path where the rot will set in and spread.
‘We [had] concrete experience of this during the dark days of apartheid,’ I continued. ‘We cannot allow abuses to occur under our democracy … We have seen recent intelligence failures in the United Kingdom and the United States, where the product presented was not objective or credible but was tailored … to particular political perceptions. [I was referring to the fabricated “justifications” about weapons of mass destruction offered by the British and United States governments for the invasion of Iraq.]
‘We have seen this just across our borders, where the product presented tells the politicians what they want to hear and not what they ought to know. We have seen this in many of the communist countries.’ I appealed to the managers ‘to show your professionalism, to keep your focus on the tasks at hand, to ensure that those members under you understand with clarity what is required … If any of you think that the intelligence service has got a role in deciding who should be the next president, then you are in the wrong place. You should leave and join a political party … However, if you are a professional intelligence officer then you will know that you cannot use your power or the state’s resources for some other agenda.’
I could only batter away and hope I was making sense.
The annual Intelligence Services Day on the tenth anniversary of the institutions established in 1995, at their vast out-of-town headquarters, provided the most appropriate occasion to address matters as an eventful year was drawing to a close. As special guest, President Mbeki delivered the keynote address to upward of a thousand attentive personnel. This was an impressive event with the inauguration of a wall of remembrance to those in the services who had passed away, with an attendant opening of a memorial garden for their families, and the awarding of medals to personnel for distinguished service. In his speech, which paid tribute to the service’s development, loyalty and achievements over the years, the thrust of Mbeki’s message was concerned with duties and responsibilities, and the mechanisms of institutionalised checks and balances against abuse of power.
‘It is of the upmost importance’, he stated, ‘that our intelligence services should perform their tasks in an impartial and professional manner, in accordance with the Constitutional prescripts and the laws of our country, always respecting the privacy, dignity and human rights of all our citizens.’
Fully understanding underlying problems within the intelligence services and beyond, Mbeki pronounced: ‘I would like to make it clear to all of us that any actions taken by the intelligence services designed deliberately to interfere with the normal political processes of parties or organisations that are engaged in lawful activities are expressly forbidden.
‘Similarly no member of the intelligence services is allowed to pass on information to any unauthorised person, be they friends or relatives, or to use their position to gather and disseminate information to help settle personal, business or political disputes … No officer is allowed to owe loyalty to networks outside the intelligence organisations in which they are employed.’4
In earlier days of our democracy, this admonition might have passed as a warning to former apartheid-era employees. There was no doubt in my mind that the current problem lay with some of the former ANC officers who had been sucked into troubled waters.
With that, service medals were awarded and the community sat down to a convivial luncheon. As I saw off the departing president, I noticed a pair of ring-necked doves at play in the memorial garden. A happier omen than those inelegant hadedas.