Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy President, hon Ministers and hon members, the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament by the Minister of State Security in November 2011. The ad hoc committee appointed to deal with the Bill was established on 24 November 2011. The Bill seeks to amend three existing laws. These are: the Intelligence Services Act of 2002, the National Strategic Intelligence Act of 1994 and Intelligence Services Oversight Act of 1994. The Bill also repeals the Electronic Communications Security (Pty) Ltd Act of 2002.
The purpose of the Bill is to accommodate the establishment of the State Security Agency. Hon Deputy Speaker, the hon members may recall that in 2009, President Zuma, by proclamation, provided for the establishment of the State Security Agency. The Bill therefore, simply provides for the amendments of three laws that I have mentioned, in order to consolidate the existing civilian intelligence entities into one entity, the State Security Agency under one Director-General, DG, as the accounting officer.
The main intelligence entities that are consolidated into the State Security Agency are: the National Intelligence Agency, normally referred to as Nia, which previously had its own DG; the SA Secret Service, Sass, which also had its own DG; the Electronic Communication Security (Pty) Ltd, which was the state-owned entity, normally referred to as Comsec; the offices of the interception centre; and the SA National Academy for Intelligence. These entities all had their own heads but will now report to the DG of the State Security Agency.
Hon Deputy Speaker, it is important to note that the State Security Agency has merely inherited the existing functions of the whole intelligence entities. Consequently, the Bill does not introduce any new functions. It is essentially a technical Bill. The Bill has had a rough ride through the committee. Hon members would note that from the time it was introduced, it's been in Parliament for some considerable time. Many hours were spent processing the Bill. Some changes were effected to this end. A number of proposals from the DA were incorporated into the Bill.
Hon Deputy Speaker, allow me to thank those who assisted the committee in its work: the hon Minister and members of his staff, the acting DG of State Security Agency and members of his staff, Advocate Hermann Smuts from the office of the Chief State Law Adviser, Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara from Parliamentary Legal Services, the committee secretary and the staff of Parliament, and most of all, the hon members. I think it is appropriate at this stage, hon members, to note that apart from the ANC - which was always there participating in the work of the committee and also the DA - there was little or no other participation from the other political parties. Cope occasionally visited the meeting, but other than that, Deputy Speaker, no other political parties participated in the work of the committee on this Bill. Hon members, hon Deputy Speaker, the ANC supports the Bill. [Applause.]
There was no debate.