Dirty secrets of SA's spy agencies

South Africa's intelligence services have been rocked by claims of financial mismanagement - and fears that the police crime intelligence unit is being infiltrated by foreign agents.

Central to the claims are payments made to foreign intelligence "sources", while it has also emerged that an investigation is under way into how a broker was paid from a National Intelligence Agency account.

These are some of the findings of an oversight report drafted by parliament's joint standing committee on intelligence. The committee now wants:

• A ban on "sophisticated" cellphones and other devices that cannot be intercepted;
• Fraud investigations involving intelligence agents to be expedited; and
• Better coordination of intelligence structures to avoid infiltration by foreign agents.

The committee also found that members of a ministerial panel appointed to review the workings of civilian intelligence structures had been paid R5-million - while their findings were never acted on.

The report was tabled in parliament this week amid moves to shake up the upper echelons of the state security apparatus.

Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele wants to axe three top officials, State Security Agency Director-General Jeff Maqetuka and his domestic and foreign branch counterparts, Gibson Njenje and Mo Shaik.

This brings to four the number of intelligence bosses who are in hot water: Police Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli is facing murder and fraud charges in court.

The committee said it would request regular meetings with President Jacob Zuma and his National Security Council .

The report, which covers the period up to March 2010 and assesses the workings of all intelligence units, found that SA's capacity to intercept devices such as smartphones was being hampered by the use of outdated technology.

It said Shaik's unit had a pending fraud and audit investigation into the mismanagement of payments to sources. It did not give details.