Office of inspector-general of intelligence looking to fill leadership gap

For the past 20 months, the office of the inspector-general of intelligence has been unable to conduct any oversight.

Interviews to fill the senior State Security Agency position yesterday painted a bleak picture of an organisation hamstrung by a lack of leadership.

Three of the five candidates interviewed are employees in the IG's office and also sit on the executive committee. The interviews further revealed that, while the agency was limping along administratively, it faced court actions and had been barred from conducting any oversight work of certain services. It is also unable to fill any vacant posts.

The IG position has been vacant for 20 months after opposition parties blocked the appointment of ANC favourite Cecil Burgess.

The successful candidate needs to be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of parliamentarians.

Jay Govender, who has been working in the IG's office for 12 years as a legal adviser, told the committee that the office was "clearly not without its problems" but that "in every organisation, there may be problems, some of which might be construed as bigger than others".

Govender said the complaints function was "operational to a certain extent" and that she had been able to approve expenditure up to a certain level.

But she explained that there were matters where the executive committee's "hands are tied", including threats of court actions with regard to certain reports.

Another executive committee member, Mampogoane Nchabeleng, said they had been "managing the office as a collective" since the departure of the previous IG.

Nchabeleng said while he had confidence in the country's intelligence services, which he said were "ready to deliver what needs to be delivered", he couldn't say what they had been doing in the past year. "I can't say they have done this or that because we have been prevented from gaining access, to one service in particular."

Right2Know, which has long been campaigning for the post to be filled, said: "Without an inspector-general, there was nobody to legally sign off on investigations, or release documents to the public."

Interviews continue today.