“Spy agency abuses show poor governance in the organisation”- https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/spy-agency-abuses-show-poor-governance-in-the-organisation/.

Earlier this year allegations of widespread financial irregularities and distortion of the mandate of South Africa’s State Security Agency were made at the judicial commission on grand corruption. The spy agency is responsible for collecting intelligence on domestic and foreign threats to the country.

The allegations point to a complete breakdown of corporate governance. They have serious implications for the agency’s operational performance, matters of national trust, reputation and international intelligence sharing arrangements.

Corporate governance is essentially about ensuring accountability in how an entity conducts its work and uses its resources to achieve its goal. Internal controls must be in place and auditable.

What shocked South Africans was not only the large amounts of money involved, but the relative ease with which the money could be obtained and spent.

The allegations made at the commission were not new. In June 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a high-level review panel to investigate the efficiency, compliance, and performance of the agency. Led by academic Sydney Mufamadi, the panel concluded that that the agency had, among other things, distorted its mandate and squandered resources.

The panel found that the agency had been re-purposed to conduct covert operations that violated the Constitution and related intelligence legislation. It was also being used to fight factional political battles in the governing African National Congress (ANC). The executive branch of government also interfered in the agency’s operations. Large sums of cash were drawn for covert operations without any documentary audit trail.

The chief financial officer had no authority to question the motivation for demanding cash. Such was the laxity of financial controls that the agency would be automatically given a qualified audit each year, according to the testimony of the late Auditor General, Kimi Makwetu, to the review panel. He lamented the fact he was not allowed to audit the use of money for covert operations. There was no audit trail.

All intelligence services trade in secrets. They conduct covert operations with due consideration for ‘plausible deniability’, which means that government can deny any involvement in any covert operations and there would be nothing that linked it with the operations. This enables them to cover their tracks when an intelligence operative is, for example, caught infiltrating an ally or adversary.

Operational efficacy: Witnesses alleged that there was no synergy between the internal – which deals with domestic intelligence – and external – which deals with foreign intelligence – branches of the agency. Also, top management was left out of the loop about the success or failure of operations.

National trust: South Africa’s intelligence community is a product of sacrifices and compromises. It resulted from the amalgamation of intelligence structures of liberation movements and the apartheid regime. Harmonising the visions of former adversaries towards a common goal of protecting the national interest of the new democratic order was a tricky, risky and daunting task.

Different pieces of legislation, such as National Strategic Intelligence Act of 1994 and the Intelligence Services Oversight Act of 1994 were enacted to ensure that the intelligence services would serve all citizens.

This created trust in the intelligence services. They were lauded for their role in securing many major international events, including the 1995 Rugby World Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The litany of damning allegations may have eroded this trust.

Reputational damage: The reputational damage suffered by the agency may also affect its relations with intelligence partners in other countries. This is particularly important for the training and development work the agency provides to neighbouring countries. Its standing and benchmark status may have been compromised.

“ANC Women's League visits former president Jacob Zuma” including his comments concerning the student protests- https://youtu.be/D6pOKfwkI-0

“ANC Women's League are the latest guests for former president Jacob Zuma at his homestead in Nkandla. The delegation was led by the league's president Bathabile Dlamini and deputy president Sisi Ntombela. The meeting took place on Friday, were former president weighed in the current student protest and defended his stance still not to appear before the state capture inquiry. The Women' League follows the meeting with ANC's top six leaders which took place virtually on Monday.”

Zuma’s noteworthy statements;

1:27 – “Please tell Nzimande the he must not to do what he is doing because it looks like we are talking against each other. I thought he was a member of the ANC. The ANC policy, the Freedom Charter, says there must be free education. Where does he get the guts to disagree with the ANC policy.”

2:33 – “I do not want you to leave without you getting an explanation. I feel like my rights were disregarded. The rights I fought for and sacrificed for. I won’t respect a judge when he does that. He must respect my rights so that the constitution can work in the right way.” [In his favour]

“Vice-Chancellor in SA, an almost impossible job – Badat” dated Oct 29, 2016, at https://youtu.be/lj6JyS5pZPY.

“A former Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University says questions about the legitimacy of the ruling party and the Government are embedded in the Fees Must Fall protests. Speaking exclusively to SABCNEWS from his office at the Mellon Foundation in New York, Dr Saleem Badat called the position of Vice Chancellors at the country's tertiary institutions "an almost impossible job" despite the legitimacy of the student's protests. And while agreeing that higher education funding has not kept apace with the growth in student populations and the strains that has placed on the institutions and their staff, he argues that insufficient attention has been given to the transformation of university systems that remain rooted in a colonial, racist, sexist and patriarchal paradigm.”

“The EFF reignites #FeesMustFall as it takes Nzimande and Unisa to court” dated 22 Feb, 2021, at https://mg.co.za/education/2021-02-22-the-eff-reignites-feesmustfall-as-it-takes-nzimande-and-unisa-to-court/. Below are a few excerpts.

With tertiary institutions soon to welcome their first-year students, the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Student Command is standing by its mantra of no higher education fees — and going to court to support this principle.

The Student Command has brought an urgent motion against the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande and Unisa in the high court in Pretoria. The Student Command wants the higher education minister’s decision to direct Unisa to reduce its 2021 first-time students intake by 20 000 to be declared unlawful and invalid.

Meanwhile, the EFF has reiterated its policy on free higher education in a recent statement, calling “for the freezing of all debt owed to institutions of higher learning and for all registration fees to be waived for the year 2021”.

[Now there are student protests again.]

“Nedbank recoils in light of state capture allegations”dated 13 February 2021 at https://amabhungane.org/stories/210213-nedbank-recoils-in-light-of-state-capture-allegations/. Below are a few excerpts.

On Monday, amaBhungane published an in-depth investigation into Nedbank’s relationship with tainted financial services firm Regiments Capital, the company that served as a key enabler of state capture.

The revelations that Nedbank had paid or promised to pay roughly R95-million to Regiments – most a reward for introducing Nedbank to government business – were the fruit of months of painstaking research. We trawled though leaked emails, memos and budgets, and engaged extensively with the bank.

In response to growing public outrage, Nedbank released a carefully-worded statement denying any wrongdoing but has otherwise kept silent.

The case we make in our investigation – summarised here but published in full at here – is that Nedbank incentivised Regiments to push financial products to its public sector clients – including the City of Johannesburg, the City of Tshwane, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and Transnet – and rewarded the controversial firm with massive fees.

This was initially set out in a “highly confidential” commission agreement – entitled Introduction of Derivative Transaction – which saw Nedbank pay millions in “introduction fees” for each new deal Regiments brought to the bank.

Later, Nedbank agreed to act as postman for fees Regiments charged its clients, delivering millions of rands of public money to the controversial firm, with the blessing of Regiments’ public sector clients.

In each case, the fees were funded by adding a margin to the interest rate on loans and interest rate swaps, meaning that municipalities and state-owned entities ultimately paid these fees, but not always with their knowledge.

Although Nedbank was not the only bank that signed one of these introduction fee agreements with Regiments, it was by far the most prolific – and others appear to have insisted on more rigorous checks that these fees were disclosed to Regiments’ clients.

In basic terms, an interest rate swap is where two parties agree to swap the kind of interest rate they pay on loans, for instance, swapping a floating interest rate for a fixed one.

But swaps are essentially a gamble on what interest rates will do in future; get it wrong and a few basis points can become what Warren Buffett called “financial weapons of mass destruction”.

But the swaps ultimately proved disastrous for Acsa which disclosed in its 2012 annual report that it had paid R919-million to unwind the swaps.

Nedbank would once again act as counterparty, but would also enter into a mirror trade with a Transnet pension fund, effectively passing the impact of the interest rate swap on to the pension fund.

Currently these interest rate swaps are deep in the red, and over the past year have cost Transnet almost R200-million.

If interest rates remain unchanged, Transnet will by our calculation have lost R4.5-billion by the time the swaps expire in 2030.

Regiments has already returned its portion of the fees earned from the interest rate swaps to the pension fund which successfully sued the firm.

https://amabhungane.org/stories/210219-nedbank-scandal-in-your-pocket-now-for-the-ebook/ states; “Today we republish the investigation in an ebook – an easy-on-the-eye magazine version you can download and save to read when and where you want” at https://amabhungane.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Nedbank-ebook-24Feb.pdf or attached.

“Expropriation of land: Concerns have been raised about possible abuses of power”- https://youtu.be/6d3bk-GmZ90

“As parliament continues to hold oral hearings to allow for the expropriation of land, concerns have been raised about possible abuses of power. Eviction of farmers by rogue government officials has resulted in claims amounting to more than R2bn.”

“R2 billion in land dispute claims – AG report reveals a Department in chaos and at war with farmers” - https://www.da.org.za/2021/03/r2-billion-in-land-dispute-claims-ag-report-reveals-a-department-in-chaos-and-at-war-with-farmers. Below are a few excerpts.

Chickens have finally come home to roost for the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) after the 2019/2020 Auditor-General (AG) report confirmed claims of more than R2 billion instituted against the Department. The shambolic handling of the land reform and land administration processes has opened it up to land dispute claims. These claims have mostly been instituted by farmers and communities who feel that they have been unfairly targeted by the Department.

At the heart of the AG’s findings is a revelation of the crippling amount of land dispute cases that have either been investigated by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) or the Department itself. The SIU is noted for having investigated 32 community/group claims for land restitution at the request of the Minister, but these reports are yet to be made public. As of 31 March 2020, the Department’s Forensic Investigations Directorate had concluded 45 investigations. The Directorate is currently investigating a further 42 cases.

It is worth noting that some of these land dispute claims stem from the chaotic land administration system that the Department currently presides over. Farmers who have lodged claims over disputed farmland have often found that the Department is often acting on disparate information.

A case in point is Mr Vuyani Zigana who was evicted from the Nooitgedacht farm in Kokstad. Minister Didiza was informed of Mr Zigana’s case in June 2020, after which she ordered the DALRRD to launch an investigation into the eviction.

Despite the outcome of a DALRRD-sponsored report implicating Departmental officials in the unfair treatment of Mr Zigana in the allocation of the Nooitgedacht farm, the harassment of the farmer has continued. The report’s recommendations continue to be blatantly ignored and the priority, it seems, is to drive Mr Zigana off his land at all costs.

Minister Didiza has not released the investigation report into the eviction order that was served on Mr Ivan Cloete, a farmer in Darling, Western Cape. By its own admission, the Department may have violated a lease agreement it had with Mr Cloete under the land reform programme. The question that arises is why the Department proceeded to invite fresh new applications on a farm in which it already had an active lease agreement in place. By violating the terms of the lease agreement it had with Mr Cloete, the process that the Department pursued to allocate the farm to new occupants became procedurally and administratively flawed, rendering it unenforceable.

In Mpumalanga, despite making representations to the Minister on their behalf, a group of successful Black farmers are still facing eviction orders from officials in the DALRRD’s Mpumalanga offices. The DA has been working alongside these farmers and we have evidence of the relentless tug-of-war they have been subjected to by corrupt officials.

“Service delivery protests | Angry protestors barricade roads” – Kraaifontein, Western Cape and other Townships protesting in solidarity- https://youtu.be/h28-UEK4V3M

“eNCA's Ronald Masinda reported from Kraaifontein.”

A body of an 11 month old baby found, throwing stones/bricks, damage to property, truck set alight, petrol bombed a law enforcement vehicle and Somali shops were looted.

2:29 – “This area where we are just behind us, this area was completely clean. There was not a single informal settlement a few months ago but many of the people who are occupying this land are people who actually lost… many of them lost their jobs during the lockdown and many of them were backyard dwellers who are unable to pay for rent so they are saying now the next step should be given what’s needed to them.”

“Ramaphosa to appear at the #StateCaptureInquiry”- https://youtu.be/iXqqpTvQi2Q

“President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to appear at the #StateCaptureInquiry for four days in April. The president is set to answer questions on the 22, 23, 28, and 29 April.”

“Dates confirmed for Ramaphosa’s appearance at Zondo Commission”- https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/dates-confirmed-for-ramaphosas-appearance-at-zondo-commission/

While it had been known that Ramaphosa would give testimony, the commission said it still needed to assign specific dates. Being president and having been deputy president during former president Jacob Zuma’s tumultuous tenure, Ramaphosa has quite a lot to answer for.

Zuma is alleged to have orchestrated a massive looting spree at critical state institutions including Eskom, South African Airways (SAA) and the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa), to name but a few – all with the help of the Gupta family, his son and fellow comrades in the ANC.

While Ramaphosa has presented himself as an anti-corruption champion, many people have wondered how active he was in either countering it or aiding it. To date, there’s not much linking the president to lucrative government contracts, however the latest personal protective equipment (PPE) scandal surrounding his spokesperson Khusela Diko as well as Bosasa’s R500 000 donation, have raised a few eyebrows.

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo announced on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, that President Cyril Ramaphosa would be giving testimony on 22, 23, 28, and 29th of April 2021.

Clarifying the dates, Zondo said on 22 and 23 April, the commission would hear testimony related to the African National Congress (ANC), of which Ramaphosa is president. The president had long indicated that he was willing to give his side of the story and answer to shocking allegations levelled against both the state and ANC.

Hunting tips [Cape Buffalo/deep state]:

• Respect it. It has 1500lb of agility, cunning at camouflage, with vengeful dispostion.

• Most dangerous when wounded, will always double back onto their blood trail to surprise their attackers.

Is this how the deep state operates?