Spying story 'unfortunate misrepresentation'
7 October 2008, 12:29
The Minister of Intelligence Services, Siyabonga Cwele, has denied remarks attributed to him: that unauthorised and unlawful spying on civilians was taking place.
Describing a Daily News report yesterday, "Spooks spying on you", as grossly inaccurate, he said it was an unfortunate misrepresentation of his discussion with a journalist on what the intelligence ministry's priorities would be for the next few months.
The new minister, who recently replaced Ronnie Kasrils as the country's intelligence chief, had been interviewed at the weekend funeral of the Mazubane family on the South Coast - the family of 13 killed when they inhaled a toxic substance they thought was traditional herbs.
Cwele was reported to have been unhappy at the way state agents had been conducting business in the past few years.
"The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has invaded people's privacy by conducting unnecessary and illegal surveillance, including unauthorised tapping of phones," he was quoted yesterday as saying.
"It is true that its work involves spying, but it does not mean they must not respect people.
Invasions
"Authorised invasions must be done in a limited way and there must be strong reasons for it to be done," he reportedly said. But late yesterday he denied part of this. "Upon my recent appointment as minister for Intelligence Services, I called on all members to maintain their focus on the core business of the Services and to continue to conduct themselves within the parameters of the constitution and the laws of our country.
"While I pointed out to the journalist the importance of the Services operating within the framework of our constitution and the rule of law, at no point did I state that our Services were operating otherwise.
"It is therefore factually incorrect to state that 'NIA members have been invading people's privacy by conducting unnecessary and illegal surveillance, including unauthorised tapping of phones'.
"As you would know, I was previously the chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. It is a portfolio I held for more than two terms and the responsibility of this multi-party committee was to exercise civilian oversight over the Services so as to ensure compliance with the constitution and the laws governing intelligence.
"Any illegal activity or illicit surveillance by the Services during my term would have been rooted out and dealt with by this committee as well as other oversight bodies such as the inspector-general for intelligence."
Alan Dunn, editor of the Daily News, said the newspaper stuck by its report. - Daily News Reporter
Describing a Daily News report yesterday, "Spooks spying on you", as grossly inaccurate, he said it was an unfortunate misrepresentation of his discussion with a journalist on what the intelligence ministry's priorities would be for the next few months.
The new minister, who recently replaced Ronnie Kasrils as the country's intelligence chief, had been interviewed at the weekend funeral of the Mazubane family on the South Coast - the family of 13 killed when they inhaled a toxic substance they thought was traditional herbs.
Cwele was reported to have been unhappy at the way state agents had been conducting business in the past few years.
"The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has invaded people's privacy by conducting unnecessary and illegal surveillance, including unauthorised tapping of phones," he was quoted yesterday as saying.
"It is true that its work involves spying, but it does not mean they must not respect people.
Invasions
"Authorised invasions must be done in a limited way and there must be strong reasons for it to be done," he reportedly said. But late yesterday he denied part of this. "Upon my recent appointment as minister for Intelligence Services, I called on all members to maintain their focus on the core business of the Services and to continue to conduct themselves within the parameters of the constitution and the laws of our country.
"While I pointed out to the journalist the importance of the Services operating within the framework of our constitution and the rule of law, at no point did I state that our Services were operating otherwise.
"It is therefore factually incorrect to state that 'NIA members have been invading people's privacy by conducting unnecessary and illegal surveillance, including unauthorised tapping of phones'.
"As you would know, I was previously the chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. It is a portfolio I held for more than two terms and the responsibility of this multi-party committee was to exercise civilian oversight over the Services so as to ensure compliance with the constitution and the laws governing intelligence.
"Any illegal activity or illicit surveillance by the Services during my term would have been rooted out and dealt with by this committee as well as other oversight bodies such as the inspector-general for intelligence."
Alan Dunn, editor of the Daily News, said the newspaper stuck by its report. - Daily News Reporter
- This article was originally published on page 2 of The Daily News on October 07, 2008
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