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From money bags and payments to fund the ANC, to creating fictitious payments that went unaccounted for, the State Security Agency (SSA) has run some questionable operations in the past.
The shocking details were laid bare before Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo at the state capture commission on Tuesday by acting director-general SSA Loyiso Jafta.
The commission got off to a bad start on Tuesday after State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo tried to halt Jafta from testifying, citing issues of state security as her main concern.
Read: Lies, threats, plots as climate of paranoia & disinformation dominates at state security
However, that application was dismissed.
Jafta detailed how on his appointment he started to follow the money and found that there was no corporate governance in many respects.
“You could walk in and request R20 million [for a project], come back and say mission accomplished or say you need another R2 million, get it and walk out, then come back and say you have completed the project,” he said.
Jafta said the money was taken on the basis of a certificate and that accounting for operational expenditure was similarly reconciled on the basis of a certificate.
The acting SSA official said operations were centralised in the office of the accounting officer, but the projects were reassigned to operational entities within the agency as part of addressing the problem.
“Members who were in possession of resources of the agency – inter alia, funds, firearms, cars, leases and immovable property – were instructed to return them, with the assurance that all of it is properly accounted for,” he said.
Jafta told the Zondo commission that some of the money which left the SSA found itself in the ANC coffers.
He said the SSA and its financial resources were used to advantage the governing party, or certain factions of it, during election contests that took place during the Jacob Zuma administration from 2009 to 2018.
Read: Reshuffle of State Security Agency could be delayed
Jafta said an investigation was commenced in respect of the relevant infractions so that, where appropriate, consequence management could be implemented with respect to the responsible persons.
Jafta revealed how the SSA could not account for at least R9 billion worth of assets, and that R125 million could not be accounted for during the 2017/2018 financial year.
The commission continues to hear evidence into the security cluster.
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