Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils says he feels “vindicated” by the report on the high-level review panel on the State Security Agency.
Kasrils, who served as intelligence minister from early 2004 until September 2008, said the report confirmed his warnings at the time that factional battles in the ANC, specifically around former president Jacob Zuma, were stymying the intelligence services.
The report talks about how the “growing politicisation and factionalisation” of the intelligence services began with the emergence of divisions in the ANC “from about 2005”. It also mentions a task team set up by the minister of intelligence in 2005 [Kasrils], to look into “intelligence legislation and other prescripts”, the recommendations of which were “unevenly implemented”.The report says that, had those changes been implemented, the SSA might not be in the state it is in today.
“I feel that I’m vindicated by this report… I faced the biggest challenge of my career, from what I saw happening from 2005, and I paid for it dearly, these people assuming I was just there to protect Mbeki. The Zuma crowd totally closed me out… I resigned in principle,” he said. He said the report contained “outstanding insight and analysis”, adding that it reflected the problems he had faced. He congratulated Ramaphosa for making the report public.As far back as 2005, there were allegations that members of the National Intelligence Agency were spying on political opponents, which became known as the hoax email saga, and there were at least two more investigations into problems within the intelligence community.
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