A self-proclaimed contact agent for crime intelligence testifying before the Madlanga commission this week has thrown fresh light on the dubious and dangerous state of South Africa’s intelligence world.
The agent’s account underscores that reform is not only urgent but also a matter of life and death for the criminal justice system.
It was easy to be amused and dismissive of Brown Mogotsi, in his blue chequered suit and mismatched shirt, when he nonchalantly took to the witness stand this week.
His appearance could not have been in starker contrast to the actual head of crime intelligence (and all agents), Dumisani Khumalo, who testified in the first phase of the commission about the “Big Five” criminal cartel that has infiltrated the police and halls of political power.
Khumalo was by-the-book, meticulous, methodical and precise in his evidence.
Mogotsi was a train wreck. The self-proclaimed North West ANC fixer began spinning a misshapen narrative about his investigation into alleged cartel boss Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, who he claims was dubbed “John Wick” in spy circles.
In the process, he casually dropped “intelligence” that KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo were both CIA spies.
Even if Mogotsi had not himself raised the idea of “misdirection”, his testimony bulged with it, which evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson masterfully pointed out on day two of the painful sitting.
After having covered the Zuma administration for more than two decades, it felt uncomfortably familiar. It was like 2015, when Business Day’s then editor at large, Carol Paton, reported on a fake “intelligence report” claiming the National Treasury was captured and packed with spies — it was called “Project Spider Web”.
The fake document prescribed codenames to key Treasury figures — Trevor Manuel was the “King of Leaves” and Maria Ramos the “Queen of Leaves”. Key Treasury officials, from the budget office to the various units, were ascribed code names such as “The Hustler”, “The Jackal”, “The Fog” and “The Emperor”. It was ludicrous but still had a devastating effect.
The report was used to justify the axing of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December that year and replacing him with a Gupta stooge, the “weekend special”, Des van Rooyen. The impact of that move on the economy was seismic.
Two years later, another “intelligence report” was leaked to Business Day through a call to the office landline, alleging that former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, were plotting to overthrow then-president Zuma, who duly used the (fake) report to fire them both.
Gordhan was replaced with Malusi Gigaba, who this week appeared in court for the first time for corruption linked to state-owned entity Transnet.
Read: Malusi Gigaba in the dock for alleged bribes from Guptas in Transnet corruption case
Zuma’s henchmen in crime intelligence, Arthur Fraser and Richard Mdluli, are no longer in the system, but the rot that began on their watch remains. Mogotsi’s testimony illustrates that it has morphed to not only do the bidding of politicians but to shield criminal cartels and networks, all at taxpayers’ expense. It has become part of a shady web feeding off state tenders.
Unfortunately for Magotsi, former Constitutional Court judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga and senior counsels Sesi Baloyi and Sandile Khumalo did not buy his lies and inconsistencies.
“I want to put it to you that an oath is meaningless to you,” Madlanga told Mogotsi, as he tried for the umpteenth time to explain away a blatant lie and how he had perjured himself in an affidavit submitted to the commission.
The terrifying truth is that Mogotsi is part of a network of such “contact agents”, and in the absence of genuine reform and scrutiny over crime intelligence these individuals will continue to use what is meant to be a crucial prong in the fight against crime for dubious, self-serving ends, as Mogotsi clearly has done and continues to do.
If no other outcome but an overhaul of crime intelligence and deeper oversight over its functioning and efficacy emerges from the Madlanga commission, SA’s fight against crime will still have received a shot in the arm
• Marrian is a Business Day editor-at-large.
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