Today, on the eve of our country’s 22nd anniversary of our hard won freedom and democracy, we delivered the department’s budget vote and policy statement to the Parliament.
We reminded the House that our country is a constitutional democracy with a constitution that provides for amongst other things, bill of rights and a number of security structures whose role is to protect the very constitutional democracy that is the structural foundation of our nation.
Our national democratic society is founded on the respect for the human rights, the rule of law, good governance, independent judiciary and independent media.
We reiterated that one of the challenges of our time, which most nation states are grappling with, is to find the correct balance between addressing security, while respecting human rights. The reality is that the two are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.
We noted the emergence of a number of global threats that have been elevated in terms of our tradecraft ranging from countering international terrorism, radicalization and violent extremism, economic meltdown, environmental degradation, forced migration, food security, unconstitutional regime change, colour revolution, non-state actors amongst others.
Despite the deterioration of global security we concluded that South Africa remains relatively stable. However we remain vigilant because our national security threats do not play themselves in a vacuum but come into a sharper focus within a specific context.
We cautioned the House that our country cannot take lightly any manifestations in our society and body politic that have the potential to advocate for unconstitutional change of government. Ours as empowered by the constitution is to ensure the maintenance of national security and the advancement of our national interest.
On securing our borders, we acknowledged, amongst other things, the good work done by men and women of the Security Cluster who continue to apprehend syndicates that move illegal money, drugs and all counterfeits goods across our borders. The latest of these successful operations includes the Kopfontein border post with Botswana where drugs worth R80 million were seized as well as Lebombo border post where R54 million worth of heroin was seized.
South Africa is estimated to be losing over R80 billion per annum through illicit financial outflows. Illicit flows from Africa could be as much as US $80 billion per annum. We noted the work being done by our intelligence agencies including the relevant treasuries, in the SADC region and on the continent to mitigate the situation.
In the year ahead we will strengthen our partnership with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in our effort to fight illicit economic activities. It is only by combining our forces that we can effectively dismantle criminal networks which need financial resources to flourish and expand.
Our country losses up to a billion rand annually due to cybercrime. Given these challenges of cybersecurity, we have improved the work we are doing in cooperation with other stakeholders like development of policies; information sharing; research and development; building capacity for young cyber experts and civic education and awareness. We have established closer institutional relations with the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC).
Notable progress has been made with regards to:
- Finalising draft National Critical Information Infrastructure (NCII) Policy
- Enhancing our systems and solutions for both the cybersecurity centre and the Government Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT)
- Completing the work around Cybersecurity Bill. The Department of Justice and Correctional Services (DoJ&CS) is leading the process that will lead to the tabling of same before Cabinet prior to sending it to Parliament
- The training of over 300 local magistrates and judges on how to deal with cyber criminals and to assess electronic evidence to be used on trial.
Confronting and rooting out corruption remains a central feature of our work. We noted the progress that has been made by the cluster with regards to arrests, convictions and freezing orders that have been obtained by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
In addition to our normal work around counterintelligence awareness and training programmes aimed at raising the security competence of state employees, we are on course in implementing our policy as agreed on vetting for all senior managers in the public service, supply chain management teams, officials working on critical infrastructure whilst extending the process to state owned companies
We are also advocating for the rotation of staff especially in the security cluster and conducting life style audits. We will also push for innovative ways of improving the integrity of civil servants of key service delivery points and going after those who run away from being vetted.
On domestic stability, we reiterate the constitutional provisions on the Bill Rights as it pertains to people’s rights to peaceful protests amongst others. We are however concerned about some elements in sectors of our society in education, public transport, labour, civil society and political organisations that continue to undermine these rights by engaging in wanton destruction of property, incitement of violence, intimidation and loss of life.
We wish to emphasise that those contravening these rights and freedoms cannot be allowed to act with impunity and it’s the duty of the law enforcement agencies to ensure that they are dealt with in terms of the law.
Terrorism remains one of the major global security challenges of our time and a serious threat to international peace and stability, affecting every country and region in the world. The threat of terrorism has assumed greater proportions with attacks spreading to a larger geographical area and with consistent frequency.
Recent attacks across the world are testimony to the continued threat the world is facing. No nation can act alone in dealing with this scourge. We remain concerned by the growing number of South Africans who are associating themselves terrorist organisations.
Domestically efforts continue to be undertaken to identify South African citizens who want to join terrorist groups and to prevent an expansion in this regard. In addition, we are working with certain communities to curb radicalisation and recruitment of our young people on false ideology. Fighting radicalisation is a societal responsibility. We need sustainable partnerships between civil society and government.
On international work, we noted the significant role we are playing in supporting our government on matters of peace, security and national interest in the continent and in the world. We will continue to play our part by providing dynamic, reliable and timeous intelligence to advance our national security and interests.
In pursuance of the African Agenda, South Africa remains seized with peace-making efforts in countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan. In this regard, our intelligence structures continue to provide support to Government in its efforts to bring about peace and security in Africa, both at bilateral and multilateral levels.
In conclusion, we want to reassure South Africans we will continue to work hard and remain vigilant at all times in protecting our constitutional democracy. We call on every citizen of this country to join us and be part of the effort to ensure that indeed all of us are and feel safe.
Enquiries:
Brian Fikani Dube
Cell: 082 418 3389
