Government says investigations of wrongdoing emanating from a series of complaints against the State Security Agency (SSA) are currently under way, with some being at an advanced stage for completion.

This has been revealed by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke in her annual report statements from 2019 up to 2020.

Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence had published its intelligence report nearly two years after it was completed by the AG.

Maluleke says the ongoing investigations form part of the recommendations of the High-Level Review Panel established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to look at the affairs of the agency in 2018.

In its findings, the panel criticised the agency for what it labelled a growing contagion of the civilian intelligence community being divided.

Maluleke says her office has been unable to get sufficient evidence relating to the successes of counter-intelligence operations by the South African State Security Agency, as reflected in its audited annual performance statements.

In the video below Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke tabled the 2019-2020 consolidated audit outcomes: 

The audited annual statements cover the period from 2015 up to 2020.

The AG says inadequate systems and processes, including the failure of fast-tracking vetting processes, were found in the report. However, she admits that due to the nature of security operations and inherent risks, this has caused limitations in her ability to confirm some information.

The South African Police Services (SAPS) has incurred more than R60-million in irregular expenditure between the 2015 financial year and the year ending in 2020. This is according to the Auditor-General’s report of the police services for the year under review.

The report reveals that some of the challenges that relate to irregular expenditure include supply chain management related to the procurement of operational equipment, goods, and services.

The AG has also stated that there’s no evidence in the annual statement of the police to justify the loss of the movable capital assets to the tune of about R9-million.

Intelligence committee not holding State Security agency accountable: Kasrils