Thuli's job 'captured'

The DA, the only political party to oppose her appointment, yesterday charged that Mkhwebane was a spy for the State Security Agency - and has been for years.

The party says that she spied while working as an immigration officer at the South African embassy in China.

Mkhwebane vehemently denies the allegations, insisting that she had only worked for the agency as an analyst since July, as she had declared to MPs.

In an SMS to The Times yesterday she said: "I never worked for SSA. I only joined the SSA on 4 July 2016."

Mkhwebane's appointment is to be recommended to President Jacob Zuma today.

Neither Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete nor State Security Ministry spokesman Brian Dube responded to SMSes asking for comment.

Department of International Relations and Co-operation spokesman Nelson Kgwete said: "We don't manage spies. We don't have any control over spy activities and have no opinions about what the DA has to say."

The DA claims to have information that Mkhwebane was in the employ of the SSA long before July.

The information, the party says, came to light after Mkhwebane's interview by the parliamentary committee established to interview candidates to replace Thuli Madonsela.

Madonsela faced similar allegations in 2014 when ANC Military Veterans' Association chairman Kebby Maphatsoe accused her of being a CIA agent.

Central to the DA's claims is when Mkhwebane joined the SSA.

On her CV she says she worked at the South African embassy in China in the national immigration services branch as an immigration counsellor from April 2010 to July 2014. She returned to South Africa in 2014 to take up her post as director for country information and co-operation management in the Home Affairs' national immigration service.

She told the parliamentary committee that she became an SSA analyst in July this year.

• Thuli fears being Hawks's next targetPublic Protector Thuli Madonsela says the battle between the Hawks and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has made her wonder whether she is next.

This has fuelled the DA's suspicions. The party asked why she would choose demotion from a R1-million-a-year job to join the SSA. DA MPs Werner Horn and Glynnis Breytenbach said their information came from "several trusted sources". They called on Mkhwebane to come clean on the allegations or decline the nomination to hold the office of public protector.

Horn said the SSA was one of the state institutions most vulnerable to state capture.

"It is of enormous importance to ensure that the appointment of the new public protector is beyond suspicion," said Horn.

The DA raised several objections to Mkhwebane's appointment, including that:

• She has little or no practical experience;
• She suddenly left her highly paid Home Affairs job to work at the SSA for a considerably reduced salary in June; and
• When asked by the DA why she agreed to a job that amounted to a demotion she claimed to be "passionate about the constitution", which the party did not believe.

"In the absence of a logical explanation for what is a demotion, the ineluctable conclusion is that Mkhwebane is on the payroll of the SSA. This is especially important in the current climate [in which] President Jacob Zuma is seen to be abusing state agencies to hang on to power at all costs.

"We cannot have that happen to the public protector as well," said Horn. He said the party had information that Mkhwebane had joined the SSA earlier than she claims.

"This is from more than one source. We have verified the information we received to the best of our ability." He said that if she were elected she would have a duty to show that she was able and willing to be an independent public protector.

"We believe that if a public protector is not in a position to act independently without fear, it will jeopardise investigations and their outcomes."

Unisa criminologist Anthony Minnaar said he had no knowledge of whether Mkhwebane was a spy, but the use of embassies and diplomatic missions to insert spies into countries was standard.

"Every diplomatic mission has intelligence-collecting officers, but also on the staff are covert agents who usually act as attaches of some sort. It's what governments across the world do."

ANC caucus spokesman Moloto Mothapo rubbished the DA's claims, calling the party's opposition to Mkhwebane's appointment "perplexing, irrational and constitutionally baseless".

David Lewis, of Corruption Watch, said his organisation did not back or oppose any candidate, but backed public participation in the selection process.

"We are happy with the public participation process and will ensure scrutiny is maintained.

"If what the DA says is right, what will be most worrying is not that she worked for the SSA but whether she was truthful in her declarations to parliament.

"If she was not, that is quite serious. There were omissions and untruths in several candidates' CVs and the committee took a serious view of that."