Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance has been reliably informed that mass bloodletting is underway at the State Security Agency (SSA).
With the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence still being formed, the Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni (48), has reportedly called some 200 members of the SSA senior management, announcing that that every employee above the age of 50 must apply for early retirement or face retrenchment.
They have been given three weeks to decide.
A further meeting has reportedly been planned to put the same terms to the rest of the SSA staff.
It is bad enough when valued expertise is lost due to members retiring at the normal age, but to force expertise out the door in this manner would be wholly iniquitous. The Defence and Intelligence services are not regulated by the Labour Relations Act – but that does not give the Minister the right to simply fire swathes of staff without reason.
Considering that we are still grey listed in part because of terrorist funding allegedly being sent out of South Africa, and terrorist camps allegedly working within our borders, one would imagine that intelligence expertise is the very last thing that we can, as a country, afford to lose.
The DA will submit a host of Parliamentary Questions to the Minister to establish the situation and ensure that due process is being followed and that the rights of these employees are protected and respected.
Regards
Dianne Kohler Barnard MP
DA Spokesperson on State Security