Thank you, hon Speaker. Let me remind the hon member Coetzee, as he is a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, that the function of the State Security Agency is to support and advise government. We have domestic functions, and we also have international functions in order to support our foreign policy. My absence from the country is never a holiday; rather, it is doing work for this government. I don't understand, because this has been explained repeatedly to the members of the joint standing committee.
On the issues of skills and knowledge, of course, within the intelligence community, we have the philosophy of intelligence officer for life, where these members can be deployed, redeployed and recalled to do their work. So, we value our current and past members who have worked within this community. At this stage I would like to point out the hypocrisy, particularly of the DA. On 2 October 2009, when we made these appointments, the hon member who has just spoken, lambasted all three appointees at that particular time, accusing them of being partisan and incompetent. We did not respond in the media, but we came to explain the capacities of these members in the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence.
Again, on 4 October of the same year, the DA accused some of these members of being factionalists and lacking expertise, the very same expertise they are now saying, hypocritically, is there. We always recognised that they did have expertise. As I have explained, we will always find a use for these members in the country that are leaving now at the State Security Agency. Some of your friends in the media, on 9 October, were accusing the very same members of lacking skills and being involved in companies that they were no longer involved with, which were being investigated by the state. I would like to say it is important that we stand by the principle that, as the State Security Agency, we regard our members as intelligence officers for life, and we will always value their contribution and find ways of utilising them in our new democracy. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
Particulars regarding cause of backlog in sections of SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory
176. Mrs L S Chikunga (ANC) asked the Minister of Police:
What (a) was the cause of the backlog in the biology section and other sections of the SA Police Service's Forensic Science Laboratory and (b) has happened to the persons or companies who had been responsible for the specified backlog? NO3459E