R2K Statement welcoming the High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency

The Right2Know Campaign calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to, forthwith, implement all of the recommendations of the High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency.

More specifically and immediately, to implement the Panel’s recommendation that the Secrecy Bill be scrapped and that, “the President instructs the appropriate law enforcement bodies, oversight institutions and internal disciplinary bodies to investigate all manifest breaches of the law, regulations and other prescripts in the SSA … with a view to instituting, where appropriate, criminal and/or disciplinary prosecutions. In particular … the establishment of a multidisciplinary investigation team to deal with the criminal investigations and that a private advocate is appointed to conduct the internal disciplinary hearings”.

We now know from the Report that there were many such breaches. Of particular concern to R2K is the confirmation of a wide range of ‘rogue’ spying on and in some cases infiltration of, civil society organisations, unions, student movements and journalists. Indeed, the report confirms the suspicions that we have had for a long time, that the State Security Agency has targeted the Right2Know specifically.

We firmly believe that these rogue securocrats are a threat to our democracy and they must be dealt with accordingly. As such, we demand that those who engaged in these criminal activities and gross abuses are named, investigated and disciplined and/or prosecuted where appropriate.

In the wake of the report’s release (noting that the President released the report two days after refusing R2K’s PAIA request that it be released), we would like to also highlight the fact that we are still waiting for the findings from the Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI) on the complaints that we lodged years ago with his office. We call on the IGI to release the findings of his investigations into our complaints as soon as possible.

The people of South Africa not only have a right to know, but they also deserve justice.