Watching the Watchers

Strategic Vision vol. 8, no. 42 (June, 2019)

Better civilian oversight called for over Intelligence apparatus of South Africa

Bheki Mthiza Patrick Dlamini

Although the Republic of South Africa is currently facing socio-political challenges, the country remains a regional hegemon, both economically and militarily, mainly because of its functional democratic institutions, in particular the intelligence community. Geographically, the nation of South Africa also serves as a gateway for almost all of southern Africa’s products on their way to global markets, thus its security posture affects the entire continent. The existence of strong State institutions is plainly provided for in the country’s constitution regardless of its racial segregation legacy.

The demise of apartheid South Africa in the early 1990s, which coincided with the end of the Cold War, ushered a new era within the country’s security architecture, in particular within the intelligence community. For realists, the demise of apartheid South Africa at the end of the Cold War was inevitable as the apartheid regime primarily survived the wrath of the liberation movements through the efficient utilization of its “Total Strategy.” Through this security- and intelligence-driven national security strategy, the liberation movements were branded as communist or terrorist in order for the apartheid regime to appeal for sympathy from the international community, in particular the Western powers. Consequently, it evaded economic sanctions and arms embargos whilst receiving enormous support from some powerful countries. This paper will examine the ever-changing role of the South African intelligence community and its shortcomings and challenges.

President Jacob Zuma observes the twenty-one gun salute outside Parliament ahead of the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town.

photo: GCIS

Minister Naledi Pandor attends the 35th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU), in Niamey, Niger.

photo: DIRCO

Multiple agencies

The South African intelligence community is headed by the Minister for State Security at the cabinet level who serves as the political head of the State Security Agency. The two main intelligence organizations in South Africa are the National Intelligence Agency and South African Secret Service. Other members of South Africa’s intelligence community include the South African National Defence Force, Defence Intelligence, which is accountable to the Chief of the South African Defence Forces; the Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service within the South African Police Service; and the Intelligence and Research element within the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. The National Intelligence Coordinating Committee serves as the bridge in the quest for synergy and information sharing.

South Africa’s constitution defines the concept of national security as being “free from fear and want, wherein South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equal, to live in peace and harmony.” This definition indicates a paradigm shift from the former apartheid government, which was Statecentric, to one that is centered on a human-security approach, which may be the result of the preeminence of liberal democracies in the post-Cold War era. In retrospect, the role of the intelligence community changed from supporting the narrowly defined national security concept of the apartheid regime to a broad, democratically defined one. The South African White Paper on Intelligence defines intelligence as “the product resulting from the collection, evaluation, analysis, integration and interpretation of all available information, supportive of the policy and decision making processes pertaining to the national goals of stability, security and development.” Therefore, from a systems-analysis approach, it is clear that South Africa’s intelligence community makes important contributions to many of South Africa’s national policies.

Tobeka Madiba Zuma delivers an address at the Defence Intelligence Women’s Day Celebration.

photo: GCIS

Evaluated information

According the South African Strategic Intelligence Act, the mission of the intelligence community is to provide evaluated information with the following responsibilities in mind: the safeguarding of the Constitution; the upholding of the individual rights as enunciated in the chapter on Fundamental Rights (the Bill of Rights) contained in the Constitution; the promotion of the interrelated elements of security, stability, cooperation and development, both within South Africa and in relation to Southern Africa; the achievement of national prosperity whilst making an active contribution to global peace; and other globally defined priorities for the well‐being of humankind.

The four major functions and missions of South Africa’s intelligence community are: collection, analysis, counterintelligence and covert action, whilst the main objective for executing these functions being a quest to protect South Africa against any act that might undermine national security, whether said act be perpetrated economically, militarily, or otherwise. When examining the role the role of the National Security Intelligence Services of the Republic of South Africa from a systems-analysis approach, these services are vital to the policymaking machinery of the State. For instance, intelligence-driven operations contribute immensely to the effective employment of law enforcement agencies by the State to thwart heinous crimes in the quest to protect the people of South Africa and their property from criminal elements. This is all the more important when considering that some criminal activities can easily manifest into national security threats, especially organized crime. In the diplomatic sphere, the national intelligence agencies also play a critical role in collecting relevant foreign-policy information in support of South Africa’s foreign and defence policies, which are both crucial for the country’s national security.

The State exercises some degree of control over the intelligence community in line with democratic norms in the quest to avert abuse and improve efficiency. Notwithstanding that relationship, the South African intelligence community has had its fair share of scandals. Most prominently, the former director of the National Intelligence Agency, Billy Masetlha, was alleged to have conducted an illegal intelligence operation against officials and businessmen affiliated with the African National Congress who were in support of then-President Thabo Mbeki.

Taking sides

This scandal reflects the intelligence community’s involvement in the battle for succession between Mbeki and his eventual successor, Jacob Zuma. Furthermore, the intelligence community is also reported to have been involved in laundering money, claiming it was part of an intelligence operation against foreign exchange control violations. This serves as clear evidence that the country’s intelligence apparatus can all too easily be abused, either by the ruling party or the State, or even by intelligence personnel, for individual gain in the absence of proper control mechanisms.

These escapades took place in spite of the existence of oversight structures within the country’s three pillars model, made up of executive, parliamentary, and civilian oversight. This model provides for both internal and external structures such as the multi‐party parliamentary committee, called the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, and the Office of the Inspector-General, provided for in the Intelligence Services Oversight Act 40 of 1994.

It is clear that South Africa’s intelligence community needs better oversight and accountability. One area for improvement would be to improve the access of South Africa’s Parliament to the intelligence community. Currently, parliament does not have very effective access to the intelligence community. Creating better communication and access between parliament and the intelligence community could help to increase accountability and decrease politicization within the intelligence community.

President Jacob Zuma addressing the launch of the Presidential Press Corps held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

photo: GCIS

Bheki Mthiza Patrick Dlamini is a Master’s student at the Graduate Institute of Strategic Studies, National Defense University of the ROC. He can be reached for comment at bhekid765@gmail.com