Cape Town - Presidency Minister Mondli Gungubele snubbed a standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) sitting where the State Security Agency (SSA) was supposed to account on the vetting of government officials.
A standing 2014 Cabinet resolution recommended that the SSA vet Eskom and other State-owned entities’ executives and their supply chain management officials.
In 2017, the fifth administration’s Scopa wrote to the SSA, requesting an update on the vetting process.
Scopa chair IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa said they wrote again to the SSA, but Gungubele and his charges opted to forego Wednesday’s meeting.
The SSA, Hlengwa said, wrote late on Tuesday to inform him that they would rather appear before the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, which is always closed to the public and the media.
Hlengwa re-iterated in the Scopa that he was not looking to probe the SSA’s financials, but he wanted to get to the bottom of the vetting process and where it ended up. He said the SSA’s decision was “suspicious”.
“(The SSA) doesn’t grasp what we’re saying,” Hlengwa said, adding that he had sought a legal opinion on the issue.
On the snub, DA MP Alf Lees said: “I’m almost lost for words – and that’s unusual for me.”
He recommended that Scopa adopts a position of condemnation against the Presidency and Gungubele for “knocking the appearance of SSA to account” for progress made in relation to vetting the officials.
“It’s quiet clear that there appears to be other reasons behind this refusal, given that you’ve (Hlengwa) made it absolutely clear that Scopa (wants to hear) about the officials’ vetting process,” Lees said.
He said SSA’s “arrogance” needed to be dealt with in a “robust” manner.
ANC MP Sakhumzi Somyo said the snub was unfortunate as previous SSA Minister Ayanda Dlodlo submitted to the vetting, giving an account on challenges the agency had at the time.
“On the strength of that, I really don’t see why they say they are not accounting to us,” Somyo said.
“As the committee, we oversee a number of departments with challenges relating to financial expenditure, leading to potential wastage, loss of such and impact to society, and one of the key areas on the lacklustre approach is the lack of vetting, specifically with Eskom.”
He cited coverage around Parliament in relation to the SABC’s newly-appointed board, whose commencement has been held up due to the SSA’s delays in vetting them.
Somyo disagreed with Lees’s suggesting to condemn Gungubele and SSA as this was “confrontational”, proposing that Scopa appeals to both Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Deputy President David Mabuza “on the latest disappointing” development.
Hlengwa said he appreciates secrecy conventions around intelligence, but felt the SSA was “stretching it too far” on the issue.
He said two former ministers, Dlodlo and Bongani Bhongo, had appeared before the committee.
“It’s not an odd precedence. The Stalingrad anchored in secrecy is very dangerous, reckless and irresponsible,” Hlengwa said.
He said a condemnation is relevant, but it has to run parallel with a concerted effort to ensure that the required information was received.
“We can’t have people who aren’t vetted handle billions of rand, contracts upon contracts. If the SSA is no longer an enabler in the fight against crime, then why are they there?” Hlengwa asked.
He said the condemnation was not off the table, though they will await a legal opinion from the state law adviser.
SSA spokesperson Mava Scott said: “The Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) is the only oversight committee of Parliament that is designated by law to handle matters of intelligence of any nature - including the matters concerning Scopa - the Constitution itself as the highest law of the land is very clear on that.
“The agency stands ready to account to the JSCI on any matter that relates to its mandate and not any other committee outside of what the law allows.”