The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture heard last week how the country's State Security Agency (SSA) was used to advance political agendas within the ruling ANC, costing the South African taxpayer billions.
The testimonies stem from a high-level review panel's report into the SSA in 2018 which detailed, amongst others, how the SSA was deployed at ANC events to impede President Cyril Ramaphosa's effort to become president and silence dissenting groups.
News24 spoke to Barry Gilder who served as director-general of the South African Secret Service (SASS) leading up to 1999, and as Deputy Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) from 2000 to 2003, about what went wrong at the SSA, and whether the agency had any successes.
