The body that co-ordinates the activities of all SA's intelligence agencies and collates intelligence information received from it wants to operate on a more independent basis than that proposed in a bill before parliament.
Officials of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (Nicoc) made the argument on Tuesday before parliament’s ad hoc committee on the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill proposed by minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
Nicoc consists of the heads of various intelligence agencies, including those of SA Police Service (SAPS) and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), which channel intelligence information on national security threats to it. Nicoc then briefs cabinet about this.
The bill aims to give effect to some of the recommendations of the presidential high-level review panel on the State Security Agency (SSA) chaired by president Cyril Ramaphosa's national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi, specifically regarding the separation of the domestic and foreign intelligence services. The establishment of a foreign-intelligence service and a domestic intelligence agency is proposed in the bill.
The contentious clause in the draft bill, which would have required the vetting of NGOs and religious bodies, has been removed from it and finally introduced to parliament which defines in very broad terms what constitutes threats to national security.
The section of the bill Nicoc officials objected to gives the minister of state security the power to appoint Nicoc members of staff including those providing co-ordination and administrative support as well as the power to determine the organisational structure and grading of posts at Nicoc. Nicoc head of strategic research and analysis Ntandazo Sifolo said the Nicoc coordinator should play this role in consultation with or with the approval of the minister.
Currently the SSA can overrule the Nicoc co-ordinator on appointments and on bonus payments even though the coordinator is at the level of a director-general.
Another objection was to a clause that made the budget of Nicoc part of that of the intelligence services, rather than having its own. Sifulo said Nicoc wanted its budget to be separately appropriated by parliament so it could not be touched.
Sifolo also said the bill should reinstate the mandate of Nicoc obliging services to supply it with information on national security threats. Nicoc should be the sole body that briefs the cabinet on intelligence matters rather than the SA Intelligence Agency, which the bill proposes to replace the State Security Agency.
Members of the ad hoc committee agreed the Nicoc co-ordinator should have the power to appoint staff, determine the structure of the organisation and be more independent. The chair of the committee, Jerome Maake, said it wanted to give Nicoc some teeth.
Nicoc co-ordinator Tony Msimang warned that legislation should not facilitate a repeat of history which saw a previous minister of intelligence illegally attempt to reduce Nicoc into a unit within his office. Another problem facing the entity, he said, was the failure of intelligence agencies to pass on information.
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