Leaked SSA report reveals US gathered intelligence on DA, EFF, IFP
South Africa will hold election this coming Month of May and the whole is watching. Interestingly, a leaked State Security Agency (SSA) report has revealed that the United States (U.S) has a network of contacts from the country’s major political parties that provide it with intelligence.
This includes mainly the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Snippets of the report were published in Friday’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling, which lifted a gag order on Independent Media from reporting on it.
The State Department has argued publication of the report would threaten national security, however, the SCA does not agree. The 17-page intelligence report dealt mainly with the US’s intelligence-gathering operation on the ruling party, the ANC. However, in his ruling, SCA Judge Taki Makgoka revealed that the US was also keeping tabs on opposition parties, according to the report.
He said a section of the report stated the US Consulate in Durban had managed to successfully gather intelligence on the IFP, EFF, and DA. Makgoka said under the recommendation section of the report, it said the US government cultivated good access within the ruling party in order to influence policy direction in the country and or how it could be subverted.
Makgoka cleared the way for the Independent Media Group to publish details of the report, saying he was not convinced this would threaten national security. It’s important to remember that early in the previous Month, the DA shocked the nation when it was revealed that the white majority party had written a letter to the United States of America.
In what many viewed as the Party handing South Africa’s sovereignty to the U. S on a silver platter- The DA indicated that it wanted the US to help monitor the country’s upcoming elections to prevent the ANC and other external forces from having their way with the much-anticipated elections.
