State security ministry denies Numsa claims

04 December 2014 - 23:17 By Sapa
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State Security Minister David Mahlobo. File photo
State Security Minister David Mahlobo. File photo
Image: Supplied

The ministry of state security on Thursday denied involvement in an alleged plot to destabilise the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

"The ministry refute these allegations with the contempt they deserve and further express our concern at the politicisation of the work of state agents in matters that are the domain of union structures and leadership thereof," spokesman Brian Dube said in a statement.

State Security Minister David Mahlobo however had requested the inspector general of intelligence to investigate the claims.

On Wednesday Numsa deputy general secretary Karl Cloete told journalists in Johannesburg that a document was being circulated as part of a plan to destroy the union.

The document is titled "Exposed: Secret Regime Change Plot to Distabilize [sic] South Africa".

It apparently implicates himself, Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim, former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, and former president Thabo Mbeki's brother Moeletsi Mbeki in a plot to destabilise the country.

According to the document, strategies included instigating widespread violence, land grabs and instability, as well as the establishment of intelligence structures in collaboration with foreign governments and international companies.

Cloete said a pattern was emerging and the document was not an isolated event. People, who Numsa suspected were from the State Security Agency, had tried to recruit Numsa shop stewards and activists in the Eastern Cape and Ekurhuleni to spy on the union's activities, he said.

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