Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils has called into question the professionalism of South Africa's intelligence services, who, he says, "don't want to wake up".
Speaking at an international conference on the campaign for an African platform on access to information in Cape Town yesterday, Kasrils said Google Earth gave a bird's-eye photograph of the country's intelligence headquarters, with all its buildings and satellites. "But if you go to that place and it is on a public road and you just take a photo of the gate you are in very serious trouble.
"We see in the culture and ethos of security services that they don't want to wake up. They're still living in the past."
He said the Protection of State Information Bill, which is set to be passed by parliament tomorrow, "deviates from all the nice constitutional and Bill of Rights safeguards".
He also warned against intelligence agents being used to fight political battles.
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