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President Jacob Zuma has personally intervened after the ANC’s unsuccessful attempt to confirm Cecil Burgess, a former senior ANC MP, as inspector-general of intelligence.
South Africa has been without an inspector-general since April last year, when Faith Radebe’s term expired, because the ANC could not secure the required two-thirds majority in Parliament to appoint Burgess to this important post.
The inspector-general of intelligence has responsibilities that are similar to an ombudsman, with extensive powers to protect the public against the abuse of power by the country’s intelligence services.
The National Assembly was expected to confirm Burgess’ nomination in June, but at the last moment the ANC asked for the matter to be postponed, reportedly because the party realised the nomination would fail when put to the vote.
The ANC, which has 249 MPs in the National Assembly, needed 16 votes from opposition parties to obtain a two-thirds majority.
However, opposition parties were not prepared to support Burgess because of his reputation as champion of the so-called secrecy bill during his tenure as chairperson of the joint standing committee on intelligence. This led to a deadlock in the process.
Media24 has learnt that Zuma then tried to use his influence to force through Burgess’ appointment.
In December, Zuma met members of Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence behind closed doors at his Genadendal home in Cape Town.
According to a source with knowledge of the meeting, “Zuma made it clear he wants Burgess” and applied pressure on the three DA members present to support the ANC’s nomination.
Zuma brought up the issue during a scheduled standard meeting with the committee, the source said.
“He said it was undemocratic of them not to support Burgess as the committee agreed on Burgess.”
The committee used its ANC majority to nominate Burgess despite objections from opposition MPs.
Bongani Majola, Zuma’s spokesperson, could not immediately be reached for comment.
John Steenhuisen, DA chief whip, confirmed the Genadendal meeting and said the DA would not succumb to pressure, least of all from the president.
The party wanted an independent candidate, preferably a retired judge, to serve as inspector-general of intelligence.
“Burgess is completely inappropriate because he is very involved in the ANC,” said Steenhuisen.
“Clearly he is absolutely subservient to the executive. We need somebody who is vigorously independent.”
Meanwhile, complaints were piling up at the office of the inspector-general.
The recent theft of R17 million from a safe in the department of State Security Agency’s Pretoria head office and a burglary at the Defence Intelligence offices was also a concern, the standing committee on intelligence acknowledged in a press statement this week.
This raised questions about how much confidence South Africans should have in their own intelligence services.
The committee plans oversight visits to these two sites over the next few weeks.
Moloto Mothapo, ANC spokesperson in Parliament, could not say when a inspector-general would be confirmed. He said the process would continue when Parliament reopened in February.
Steenhuisen said it was imperative that an inspector-general be appointed urgently.
“We can not sit much longer without an inspector-general. We are giving them a “get out of jail free” card for any wrongdoing.”
Should the ANC not make progress in this case quickly, the DA would consider legal action, he said.
