ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte plans to lay criminal charges after some of her electronic devices were allegedly hacked.
The ANC released a statement early on Friday morning saying Duarte’s “e-mails and messaging systems have been targeted and interfered with”.
The party further stated that it noted a message claiming to be from Duarte circulating on Whatsapp, calling on South Africans to discard any messages or e-mails claiming to be from Duarte.
The ANC will now consider measures to ensure the communications of its leadership are secure and private, especially in the run-up to the May 8 elections.
Politicians have previously raised concerns over the security of their communications. Former minister of home affairs Malusi Gigaba claimed in October 2018 that his communications were intercepted when an explicit video of him and his wife surfaced online.
The incident also follows a report by the High Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency (SSA), which raised serious concerns about the abuse of intelligence services.
“There has been a serious politicisation and factionalisation of the intelligence community over the past decade or more, based on factions in the ruling party, resulting in an almost complete disregard for the constitution, policy, legislation and other prescripts, and turning our civilian intelligence community into a private resource to serve the political and personal interests of particular individuals,” the panel found.
The ANC, meanwhile said it is now used to opponents using “dirty tricks” to undermine the party.
“We find these actions reprehensible with the only objective to cause harm, invoke anger and cause instability,” the statement read.
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