NIA spies on the public - minister

The newly appointed Minister of Intelligence, Dr Siyabonga Cwele, has admitted that unauthorised and unlawful spying on civilians is taking place.

In an interview Cwele, who replaced Ronnie Kasrils two weeks ago, said he was unhappy with the manner in which the National Intelligence Agency had been conducting business over the past few years.

In an interview with the Daily News this weekend, he said he had told the heads of the NIA just after his appointment, that he would not tolerate the abuse of resources where people were being spied on to achieve personal agendas.

"NIA members have invaded people's privacy by conducting unnecessary and illegal surveillance, including unauthorised tapping of phones.

"It is true that their work involves spying but it does not mean that they must not respect people.

"Authorised invasions must be done in a limited way and there must be strong reasons for it to be done," he said.

Unauthorised spying by the NIA first emerged in 2005 when former ANC national executive member and a prominent businessman Saki Macozoma exposed NIA operatives, who had placed him and his family under illegal surveillance.

At the time he said he had become aware of the surveillance due to the overt nature of the spying.

He lodged a complaint with Kasrils.

The shocking revelations about the botched spy operation on Macozoma led to the suspension of NIA director-general Billy Masetlha and two of his deputies, operations chief Gibson Njenje and counter-intelligence chief Bob Mhlanga. Masetlha was subsequently fired.

Cwele, who cut his political teeth on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, chaired parliament's intelligence committee before he was appointed to his new position.

He said strict measures to prevent unnecessary snooping were important because the issue of human rights and upholding of the law had to be taken into account.

Another mammoth task that Cwele wants to deal with is transnational crimes such as drug smuggling and other things that come into the country illegally.

"The issue of drugs is very serious and we have to deal with it. Drugs are brought into this country in large amounts and are being sold to our youth.

"We have to do something because our future leaders are being destroyed by drugs," he said.

Cwele believes that his department and the Department of Safety and Security should work together to confront the issue of organised crime.

Infiltrate

Newly appointed Safety and Security minister Nathi Mthethwa has also promised to implement strict measures to deal with organised crime.

"I believe that our department should play a leading role in dealing with organised crime. South Africa has a large number of crime syndicates.

"We need to disturb criminal's methods by infiltrating their nests," Cwela said.

He said he would like to see his department playing a leading role in organising big events such as the upcoming soccer World Cup.

"We want to have a secure 2010. We want to make sure that whoever comes here during the event is safe and the whole event is protected," he said

Cwele said his appointment to his new position came as a surprise.

"I was not expecting it but I have accepted the position and I understand how important this position is.

"The fact that I have I was a member of the intelligence committee puts me in a better position to deal with the challenges in the department," he said.

bongani.mthembu@inl.co.za

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Daily News on October 06, 2008