Chief justice Raymond Zondo on Wednesday put former spy boss Arthur Fraser, ex-state security minister David Mahlobo and head of special operations Thulani Dlomo at the heart of a scheme to use the State Security Agency (SSA) to advance former president Jacob Zuma’s personal and political interests.
Zondo, who handed the final investigation report into widespread corruption to President Cyril Ramaphosa, recommended law enforcement agencies investigate bringing criminal charges against Fraser over a secretive intelligence programme, as well as Mahlobo, who is now a deputy minister of human settlements, water & sanitation, and Dlomo for handling large sums of money.
Fraser, Mahlobo and Dlomo were probably the most trusted henchmen of Zuma at the SSA head office, Zondo found, and were instrumental in many illegal activities that took place at the expense of national security but in service of Zuma’s narrow personal and political interests.
Zondo recommended that the Hawks should investigate Fraser for “prima facie criminal activities” and revisit an investigation into Fraser that was dropped at the insistence of former intelligence minister Siyabonga Cwele.
According to Zondo, it might well be that Fraser will be absolved by the investigation but he added that dropping the probe before it could take off was not on. The investigation the Hawks dumped, Zondo observed, was from an SSA internal report, which raised a red flag of prima facie criminal activities on the part of Fraser.
Zondo found Fraser did not just handle SSA cash but that the agency’s operational budget jumped by 75% when he took over as spy boss.
The findings on the SSA are particularly pertinent in the context of the criminal complaint by Fraser that Ramaphosa is guilty of money laundering, corruption and kidnapping in relation to a 2020 burglary of an alleged $4m at his Phala Phala game farm. There have been suggestions that Fraser’s move was a pre-emptive strike ahead of Zondo’s report on the SSA.
Zondo also said Ramaphosa had a case to answer over state capture when he was deputy president and head of government business, because he seemed not to know much about what was going on.
Fraser was fingered by Zondo in connection with the Principal Agent Network (PAN) which was a subdivision of the SSA, alleged to run as a parallel structure for political ends.
Because Fraser led PAN, wrote Zondo, he was the subject of an internal SSA investigation.
“A report that followed implicated him. The report was handed over to the SIU and the NPA […] the prosecution was stopped by ... Zuma on the ground that it would compromise the security of the state,” wrote Zondo.
Zondo found, based on the evidence of former SSA senior Mo Shaik, that SA paid the price for the stalled investigations into the Guptas over their suspected threat to SA’s sovereignty and national security.
“It is probable that had investigations against them been allowed to continue, they possibly could have been deterred from engaging in some activities that amounted to state capture.
“They chose not to appear before the commission to contest what was said about them,” wrote Zondo.
The chair of a high-level review panel into the SSA, Sydney Mufamadi, and others made allegations against Fraser during evidence at the commission, including that Mahlobo ran operations to the tune of R125m in the 2017/2018 financial year that were not accounted for and that he approved an operation in which rogue intelligence operatives were used to infiltrate the ANC 2017 Nasrec elective conference. According to Mufamadi, Fraser also centralised counterintelligence operations within his office with no official oversight or proper accounting.
Scathing evidence about the SSA was also given by former inspector of intelligence Setlhomamaru Dintwe and former acting director-general of the SSA Loyiso Jafta.
The 1,824-page fifth report covered the SSA, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, SABC, the Estina dairy farm project and the landing of the Gupta wedding guests at the Waterkloof Air Force base. It followed previous reports which dealt with state capture involving Bosasa, Denel, Eskom, the SA Revenue Service, Transnet, New Age newspaper, the National Treasury, the Free State asbestos and housing debacle, Alexkor and IT firm EOH’s dealings with the City of Johannesburg.
In all, the commission has submitted over 5,000 pages of evidence, findings and recommendations arising from its hearings of the testimony of about 330 witnesses over nearly four years, which have cost taxpayers in the region of R1bn.
Correction: June 23 2022
An earlier version of this report stated David Mahlobo’s title incorrectly. He is, in fact, a deputy minister of human settlements, water & sanitation.
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