Spy chief in firing line

2005-10-16 14:14

S'Thembiso Msomi

Johannesburg - Spy chief Billy Masetlha's job is in the balance after his fallout with cabinet over the recent attack by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on the credibility of the elite investigations unit, the Scorpions.

President Thabo Mbeki is said to have been so infuriated by the NIA's claim that the Scorpions were "threatening national security" by working closely with foreign intelligence agencies that he stopped short of giving Masetlha his marching orders this week.

Mbeki is said to have been particularly enraged by the naming of people as spies for foreign intelligence agencies in a confidential version of the NIA's submission to the Khampepe Commission .

Judge Sisi Khampepe was appointed by Mbeki to investigate whether the Scorpions, also known as the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), should remain in the National Prosecutions Authority or be relocated to the SA Police Service.

At its meeting on Wednesday, cabinet distanced itself from the NIA's stance.

It said in a statement: "Cabinet, however, wishes to distance government from statements, particularly leaks to the media of documents or information with no official standing within government, which seek to question the integrity of officials employed in the DSO and to cast aspersions on co-operation that our institutions have with their international counterparts."

City Press has also learnt that the NIA's role at the commission has driven a further wedge between Masetlha and Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils.

The two are said not to have seen eye to eye for a while. It is believed Masetlha is part of the group that believes ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma is being victimised by the Scorpions.

It is alleged that when Kasrils was shown the NIA's initial confidential submission to the commission, he demanded that the names of people cited be removed - but this was not done.

It has now emerged that Kasrils submitted his own confidential document that disagreed, in part, with the NIA's stance on the Scorpions' future.

The two men are believed to disagree on several other issues including the minister's alleged closed relations with members of the British intelligence community.

In one instance, Kasrils is said to have proposed that local intelligence operatives receive training in the UK, but Masetlha preferred to get help from Cuba.

On Friday, he was quoted in the Mail & Guardian as saying he had "expressly warned" against attacks on the integrity of individuals or foreign intelligence services during the NIA's submission to the commission.

It is alleged that the tensions between Masetlha and Kasrils began last year when the latter took over the ministry. He introduced several cost-cutting measures and allegedly reversed some of the decisions of his predecessor Lindiwe Sisulu.

But Lorna Daniels, spokesperson for intelligence services, said she was not aware of tensions between Masetlha and Kasrils. She denied that Kasrils had introduced cost-cutting measures, including salary cuts, that had negatively affected the NIA.

"The minister had indicated that the (intelligence) services had to be careful of the expanding salary bill," she said.

In her letter to the Mail & Guardian, Daniels referred to the minister's constant stress in his speech that "we no longer live in an era of Cold War hostilities" and that there was a need to co-operate with other intelligence services to combat international terrorism.

Masetlha could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

- City Press