Civil Society organisation Right2Know (R2K) Campaign picketed at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria, on Wednesday to demand that spies who have illegally infiltrated civil society organisations are held accountable.

In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly released a redacted version of a High-Level Review Panel Report on the State Security Agency (SSA) which revealed that there were a wide range of ‘rogue’ spying on and in some cases infiltrating civil society organisations, unions, student movements, and the media.

The panel, led by Dr Sydney Mufumadi, found that former President Jacob Zuma and Ministers he appointed, including Siyabonga Cwele and David Mahlobo, as well as senior staff at the SAA, violated the Constitution by overseeing and allowing the repurposing of the spy agency to serve their own personal and political interests - a process that started in 2005.

R2K Campaign said the report’s recommendations have yet to be implemented. 

“Subsequent to the release of the report, albeit a redacted version, we have consistently been calling for the implementation of the recommendations as outlined in the report. It is worrying that two years after the release of the report no one has been held to account so far and the implementation of the recommendations remains stalled,” it said.  

Former Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Dube assured South Africans in 2019 that those who had been implicated would be held accountable.

“In demanding justice and ensuring that the spies that were implanted to illegally infiltrate our movement, the Right2Know Campaign will be embarking on a picket action today at the State President's office to demand that the spooks be unmasked and held accountable. We will not rest until all those implicated, from the highest level, are brought to book to account for their illegal spying on and infiltration of our movement and others,” Right2Know Campaign said.