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File Photo: Arthur Fraser, former CEO of the State Security Agency (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Jaco Marais)
Firearms, including assault rifles, are still missing from the arsenal of the State Security Agency as a result of the illegal activities of the agency’s General Directorate of Special Operations (CDSO) during Jacob Zuma’s tenure as president. .
Every time there is a press report about a murder, the State Security Agency (SSA) officials in charge of the armory pray that it is not from a bullet fired by one of the firearms that are allegedly under their control. control, Ms) told the State Capture Investigation Commission on Friday.
It’s been a week of startling testimony before Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo presided over, revealing the extent to which national security was undermined by Zuma enablers such as former SSA Deputy Director General Sonto Kudjoe Thulani Dlomo (also ambassador to Japan) and former CEO Arthur Fraser.
Allegations of the formation of an unconstitutional and illegal parallel national security operation in the form of the CDSO, complete with its own parallel vetting procedures for the operatives, were revealed in testimony by Chairman of the High Level Review Panel of the Sydney Mufamadi State Security Agency, SSA Acting Managing Director Loyiso Jafta, and a affidavit of a Mr. Y (name withheld) who was one of the investigators of the Veza Project, which investigated allegations of irregularities and criminality in the SSA between 2012 and 2018.
Although Mr. Y was not present at the commission, his affidavit was corroborated by the fellow investigator, Ms. K, who was off-camera during the virtual commission proceedings.
On Friday, advocate for the leader of evidence Paul Pretorius continued to analyze the details of how the CDSO, which was created and then initially run by the ghost of Zuma Thulani Dlomo in 2012, was given carte blanche to use black ops cover to plunder the state coffers of an estimated R1.5bn for the benefit of Zuma and his cronies. The CDSO’s actions also crippled the legitimate functions of the SSA, cutting the budget of its provincial offices in half. Much of this was detailed at Thursday’s hearing., including how Zuma used the law enforcement agency to undermine the judiciary.
It was Friday afternoon that information about the missing SSA firearms came to light. Pretorius was careful to guide Ms. K through the series of regulations and controls governing the storage, transportation, and handling of SSA firearms, all of which were bypassed and violated by the CDSO. Ms. K corroborated Mr. Y’s affidavit to the commission that irregular access to the SSA arsenal began in late 2014 and early 2015 when 39 firearms were turned over to CDSO members at the request of Dlomo as counterintelligence DDG.
These included 11 R4 assault rifles, 10 pistols, four Glock 17 pistols, eight Glock 19 pistols, a 12-gauge shotgun, three VXP submachine guns, and two Uzzi submachine guns. These were removed from the armory without the necessary forms or without the guarantee that the agency employees would be provided with the required firearms training and handling certificates. In addition, the purpose for which they were issued, part of the SSA control regulations, was not provided, nor was the necessary guarantee with respect to their safe transport and storage fulfilled.
Ms. K corroborated Mr. Y’s affidavit that Dlomo’s requests to the armory were made through a General Manager of the General Directorate of Intelligence Services, who was assigned the pseudonym Johan . Johan facilitated the delivery of firearms without the necessary safeguards, which created an environment in the armory where they could not reject irregular requests due to their involvement.
However, according to Mr. Y’s affidavit, Dlomo, as a member of the SSA executive, “had no just reason to request firearms.”
Furthermore, the CDSO was under covert operations and therefore should have taken steps to ensure that the firearms they used could not be traced back to the SSA. Project Veza investigators also interviewed witnesses who said firearms were released to non-SSA members who had been recruited by the CDSO and deployed in sensitive areas around the president and vice president. One such person was the “late Thula” who posted his SSA permit on his Facebook page after a dispute with Dlomo.
No controls were carried out on the transport and storage of the firearms and, in one case, the firearms were kept in an unsecured hotel room where five disappeared. Only two were recovered by Dlomo in September 2019. They were not reported to SAPS as missing, resulting in Project Veza investigators opening a case for firearms missing since 2015.
In September 2014, Dlomo allegedly ordered, through Johan, four R4s and six pistols to be taken on the presidential plane to a foreign country that was suffering a coup at the time. Although firearms were apparently not used in the coup, they were seen there in the presence of Dlomo.
“This incident was confirmed,” said Ms. K.
Then, in December 2016, the new General Manager was asked to return all firearms, but only 21 were returned. Additionally, out of 1,635 rounds of ammunition, only 755 have returned to date, and some of those are ammunition that never they belonged to the SSA.
In April 2018, another 11 firearms were returned. In one situation, SSA members were ordered to meet unknown persons in possession of SSA firearms at the Durban airport. In the tense meeting in which they were armed, they only handed over their weapons once they contacted Dlomo who was in Japan.
Two more firearms were recovered from Dlomo in November 2019, and four firearms are still unknown. Ms K said ballistics tests were being carried out on the recovered weapons to determine if any have been used in a crime, and the results of these tests are awaited.
“Non-members of the SSA were receiving firearms and ammunition with the help of senior managers in CDIS (Directorate of Chief Intelligence Services), CDSO and the DG’s counterintelligence office,” stated the affidavit of Mr. Y.
Earlier in the day, the commission heard how the CDSO, although officially closed in late 2016, continued to work on projects under the Covert Services Unit (CSU) overseen by Director General Arthur Fraser following his appointment to the post in late 2016. 2016.
Under Fraser there were attempts to infiltrate the media, although they were not very successful as the price demanded by potential sources within the media was too high or the media immune to influence. However, 20 million rand was paid to the African News Agency, and at least another 28 million rand was withdrawn against what was called Project Wave and it seemed that there were people in the media outside of ANA who received money.
Pretorius said he would delve into this later in the day, but he didn’t.
While Fraser was in office, successful disinformation measures were also implemented against the #ZumaMustFall movement, as well as the infiltration of civil society organizations such as the Right2Know campaign.
Next week, the commission will hear evidence related to parliamentary oversight, Zondo announced before adjourning the session over the weekend. DM
