Chairperson, I am not a member of this committee, so I can speak more freely. I googled famous spies and came across the 10 most famous spies according to Google. It was clear that these men and women paid the highest price and many died young.
The most famous one was Mata Hari, the stage name for the Dutch-born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, who was an exotic dancer and a high-class prostitute in Paris. She spied for Germany and was executed at the age of 41 by a firing squad. There is no South African connection on the top 10 list, but 5 out of the 10 famous spies spied for the Soviet Union.
When you are dealing with national intelligence and state security, it is all about trust. Today, I want to address the topic of whether the abuse of state security is not a serious challenge to the rule of law in South Africa. Since May 2008, we have experienced often confusing legal battles between what appears to be sectional interests in the legal profession.
Initially, the matter centred on accusations by constitutional judges that Judge Hlophe had tried to influence their decisions in the case against the President. The battles and debates that have raged since then had little to do with whether citizens could trust the independence of the judiciary, or whether Judge Hlophe did try to influence the judges or not. They were all about power; all about intelligence. The National Prosecuting Authority's decision to drop the charges against the President was a vindication for many ANC supporters who had argued that the NPA had acted unfairly to influence the timing of the trial to undermine the President's chances of being elected as leader of the ANC.
Serious questions were raised about how the evidence of the NPA's Leonard McCarthy's indiscretion was obtained by the President's legal team from the National Intelligence Agency. There are still unresolved questions. Why was it necessary for the NIA to monitor the National Prosecuting Authority's telephone calls? And, are they still doing it? Are they monitoring Members of Parliament's telephone calls? Are they monitoring Cabinet Members' telephone calls?
This is all about the threat to the separation of powers, which is the cornerstone of the rule of law. Let me remind this House what the meaning of the rule of law is. The rule of law provides that no person is above the law; that no one can be punished by the state except for a breach of the law; and that no one can be convicted of breaching the law except in a manner set forth by the law.
So, no Rex, Lex: the king is law, but rather the law is king. We are a Reichstag - call it a constitutional state in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by law; in which you are transparent in all state acts and in which you can review state actions by independent organs. But is this the case?
The Institute for Security Studies puts it bluntly, and I quote: "The National Intelligence Authority appears to have bowed to political influence in both monitoring the head of the NPA and handing the tapes to President Zuma's legal team."
Exactly three years after the NPA incident, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale called a press conference in order to respond to a purported intelligence report implicating him and other ANC leaders in a plot to get rid of President Zuma as party leader. [Interjections.] Minister Sexwale was also implicated together with ANC heavyweights Cyril Ramaphosa and Mathews Phosa in a plot to unseat Thabo Mbeki. [Interjections.] At that media conference, he asked pertinent questions as to why these rumours always coincide with the run-up to the ANC's conferences.
Minister Sexwale said at this media conference, and I am quoting him - I quote your Minister now - "The incident showed a serious abuse of state power and resources in the conduct of illegal and criminal activity by high- ranking members of the police." Now the question is: What is the NIA doing about this, and will the Minister assure us in this House that the NIA will not be involved again and that it will protect and honour the rule of law at all times? Only time will tell in the run-up to the 2012 ANC conference. I thank you. [Applause.]