Mufamadi to testify at State Capture Inquiry

Former Chairperson of the High-Level Review Panel into the State Security Agency (SSA), Sydney Mufamadi will testify at the State Capture Commission on Monday.

The hearings resume after Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo completed his isolation period after he was exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month.

The Panel was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 and found that there had been politicisation and factionalisation of the intelligence community over the past  10 years based on factions in the African National Congress.

The Panel was chaired by Mufamadi and included nine other members with a wide range of senior-level experience and expertise in law, security studies, civil society, academia, the intelligence and security community and other arms of government.

Amongst those who have testified at the Inquiry regarding the SSA are former Director-General of the SSA, Mzuvukile Maqetuka and senior officials Gibson Njenje and Mo Shaik.

They alleged that they had lost their jobs because they did not serve the agenda of former President Jacob Zuma to capture the organisation after launching an investigation into the Gupta family.

In July last year, Maqetuka told the State Capture Commission he believes the rush to amalgamate the Security Agency was because the Zuma regime wanted to erode the gains of its predecessor.

Maqetuka detailed what he called his constructive dismissal from the SSA:

In November last year, former Director of the Domestic Branch of SSA, Gibson Njenje testified about former State Security Minister, Siyabonga Cwele stopping another investigation by the agency.

Njenje told the Commission that Cwele requested him to investigate operations of a covert Principal Agent Network (PAN) with allegations of abuse of taxpayers’ money.

Much like the SAPS secret slush fund, it was found that PAN was used for purchase and leasing of properties, purchasing 300 vehicles, employing untrained or vetted agents and siphoning off funds to family relatives of senior members.

Below is Njenje’s testimony: