The State Security Agency (SSA) is set to split into two separate departments, foreign and domestic, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill into law.
The General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill signed on Friday is the basis for significant reforms of South Africa’s intelligence services that will be accompanied by improved oversight and accountability.
In a statement, the Presidency said the amendment Act amends the National Strategic Intelligence Act of 1994, the Intelligence Services Act of 2002, and the Intelligence Services Oversight Act of 1994.
“Among other reforms, the amendment Act disestablishes the current State Security Agency as a national government department and replaces it with two separate departments.
“The new departments are the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) which shall be responsible for foreign intelligence gathering so as to identify opportunities and threats to National Security, and the Domestic Intelligence Agency (DIA) which shall be responsible for counter-intelligence as well as the gathering of domestic intelligence in order to identify threats to National Security,” the Presidency said.
The amendment Act also re-establishes the South African National Academy of Intelligence (SANAI) and Intelligence Training Institute for both Domestic and Foreign Intelligence capacities.
The wide-ranging amendments constitute implementation of the recommendations of the 2018 Presidential High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency (SSA) and of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector (the Zondo Commission).
“The law also addresses concerns about bulk interception by intelligence services of internet traffic entering or leaving South Africa, by introducing new measures including authorisation within the intelligence services as well as court reviews of such interception,” the statement read.
The law provides for the administration, financial management and expenditure of the intelligence service entities to be within the ambit of the oversight of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence – a multiparty committee of Parliament that processes public complaints about the intelligence services and monitors the finances and operations of these services.
The newly enacted amendments also provide for greater autonomy for the Inspector-General of Intelligence and the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (NICOC) in making administrative and functional decisions. – SAnews.gov.za
Watch a President signs the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill related video:
Stunning South Africa:
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fire bite
An retired elderly couple visit London..
They get picked up from the airport in a london black cab and head off into the city for some adventure.
The cab driver say \”where you from guvnor?
Husband. \”we\’re from South Africa\”..
The wife is a little hard of hearing asks her husband.
\”What did he say?\”
The husband turns to his wife and says louder \”the cab driver asked us where we were from, I told him South Africa!\”
The cabbie continues \”I was in the merchant navy years back… I got to drop anchor down your way, a few times in Johannesburg\”
The husband replies \”oh wow that\’s where we\’re from originally, now we\’re in Cape Town.\”
The wife asks the husband again \”what did he say?\”.
The husband again relays the unheard conversation \”the cab driver says he spent some time in the navy and went down to joberg\”.
The wife smiles and nods.
Eye Devil
Ubuntu – compassion, kindness, humanity [oo-boon-too] An ancient African word used to describe common philosophical feeling of humanity and family, meaning “I am because we are”.