Shortlisting of candidates for position of Inspector General of Intelligence

Meeting report

Inspector General of Intelligence vacancy: Shortlisting of candidates
The Chairperson reminded Members that the term of office of the Inspector General of Intelligence would come to an end on 31 March 2015. A suitable candidate to fill the post needed to be identified. If a suitable candidate had not been identified within that timeframe, then the vacancy may need to be re-advertised. An extension of the existing Inspector General’s term of office may also need to be considered.
 
The Chairperson said the Sub-committee’s mandate was to shortlist candidates and report back to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence on its deliberations. In terms of the rules, anyone was welcome to observe the Sub-committee’s short-listing process.
 
She told Members that she did not want to discuss media articles and speculation surrounding the process.
 
She said Members had a big file containing all the applications to refer to. Each Member had also received a “long, short list” for reference.
 
Received applications: 57 Candidates
The Chairperson said 57 applications for the post had been received. One of these had been after the deadline and would not be considered. The sitting Inspector General, Ms Faith Radebe, had applied but had later withdrawn her application. This meant that only 55 candidate applications would be deliberated on.
 
The Chairperson suggested that from the 55 candidates, Members should each select ten candidates they considered fit for the post which would require top security clearance. Criteria included a candidate’s career skills, knowledge and education. South African citizenship, knowledge of the intelligence and counter-intelligence sector and impartiality were also important.

Members agreed.
 
Mr D Stubbe (DA) suggested that a candidate should also have an understanding of the law.
 
The Chairperson said applicants had been categorised according to their CVs. For example, one of the applicants was a security guard and had been placed in a certain category.
 
The Committee agreed that 15 minutes be set aside to allow each Member to look through the list of candidates and to submit ten for consideration.
 
Ms Z Dlamini-Dubazana (ANC) proposed that each Member select five preferred candidates from the list. Candidates who were selected by more than one Member should then be considered for placement in the shortlist.
 
Mr D Stubbe agreed in principle but suggested that each Member should choose ten candidates rather than five.
 
The Committee approved the suggestion and after more than 15 minutes, each Member reported back on their list of preferred candidates.
 
Members identified their preferred choice by the number that the candidate had been assigned on the list of the 55 applicants. Other Members referred to the candidates’ name and their number on the list or just by their name.
 
Mr D Gamede (ANC) said he had less than ten preferred candidates. The majority were not, in his opinion, suitable.
 
The Chairperson listed 15 names.

This was pointed out by Members, as it exceeded the agreed upon number of ten candidates per Member.
 
The Chairperson said she had not realised that her number of candidates was in excess of ten.
 
Members debated whether the Committee Secretary should calculate and tally the number of times each candidate had been proposed. It was agreed instead, that each Member be given five minutes to calculate how many times a candidate’s name had been picked.
 
Members reached agreement that 12 candidates had been proposed by more than one Member.
 
The Chairperson recommended that only candidates who had been picked by four or more Members be added to the shortlisted.
 
This resulted in the agreement that eight candidates be shortlisted for consideration by the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. This was based on the number of times a candidate’s name was proposed.
 
The candidate’s list number, name and number of recommendations were as follows:
2, Mr C Burgess, seven recommendations;
8, Mr I Fazel, six recommendations;
16, Mr SP Jele, six recommendations;
20, Mr AB Kilifele, six recommendations;
11, Adv. J Govender, five recommendations;
43, Mr MP Nchabeleng, five recommendations;
5, Mr CP Davids, four recommendations; and
7, Mr MM Diseko, four recommendations.
 
The Chairperson said the names would be submitted to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. That Committee would decide if it would interview all eight people or only some of them.

She recommended that the process should get underway as soon as possible. Hopefully this would be done within the week.
 
Mr B Holomisa (UDM) asked if it would not be quicker for the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence to interrogate the applications of the eight candidates and then only interview three or four of them.
 
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting of the Sub-committee and told Members that the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence would convene later in the morning.
 
She said that Committee would decide on what procedure to follow. It would be a closed meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.