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The Democratic Alliance denounces President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to transfer the Director-General of the State Security Agency, Arthur Fraser, to the Department of Correctional Services.

While we welcome Fraser’s removal from the SSA, it is completely outrageous that President Ramaphosa has decided to merely transfer Fraser to a different government department in light of the ongoing investigation into the damning criminal allegations against him.

In May of 2017, when the DA submitted a formal complaint to the Inspector General of Intelligence, Dr Setlhomamaru Dintwe, Fraser’s alleged criminal activities formed the core of the submission. And it was on the basis of Fraser’s desperate attempts to avoid accountability and frustrate the IGI’s ongoing investigation into his illicit conduct that the DA wrote to President Ramaphosa on 12 April 2018 to request that Fraser be suspended pending the investigation into the damning allegations against him.

The President’s decision to transfer Fraser is nothing short of a continuation of the disgraceful trend started by former President Jacob Zuma where patently corrupt and criminal officials escape liability for their actions.

Evidently, Fraser’s relentless attempts to intimidate and divert attention from his illicit conduct at the SSA has worked – President Ramaphosa and State Security Agency Minister, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, have blinked and are allowing Fraser to get away with little consequence.

It is apparent that much more still needs to be done to reclaim South Africa’s intelligence services and rid it of nefarious characters like Fraser. It is now absolutely critical that the IGI be allowed to expedite and conclude his investigation into unlawful activities at the SSA. Moreover, oversight and accountability mechanisms across our intelligence services must be improved.

The DA will continue to hold those responsible for South Africa’s national security to account and fight to ensure that officials acting unlawfully are exposed and prosecuted.

Issued by DA