South Africa: Crackdown on Spies Under Zuma, Net Closes in on 30 People but Kodwa Keeps Mum on Arthur Fraser

Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa confirmed on Wednesday a number of actions the department had undertaken to tackle the years of alleged impropriety that characterised the State Security Agency (SSA) during the Zuma administration.

Among them are a multidisciplinary team to investigate administrative and criminal actions as well as the registration of an inquiry with the police and Hawks.

Kodwa was giving oral reply to questions to Minister Ayanda Dlodlo in the National Council of Provinces in Parliament.

DA MPL George Michalakis asked the minister whether the department had instituted any forensic and/or other investigations into the breaches of financial and other controls regarding the Principal Agent Network (PAN) project and special operations, and whether this had led to any disciplinary and/or criminal prosecutions.

The PAN, abolished in 2011, is described as another parallel intelligence structure that allegedly spirited away nearly R1bn in state funds over three years, and diverted the intelligence mechanisms of the state to the former director-general of state security, Arthur Fraser.