SSA report clears Joburg of spying claims - Phalatse
Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse says an investigation by the State Security Agency (SSA) has found no truth to claims of spy equipment being used against ANC politicians in the city.
The SSA was roped in to probe allegations levelled against the city’s anti-corruption unit and its former head Shadrack Sibiya.
Phalatse briefed the media on the findings on Wednesday morning.
She said the SSA probe gave the city a clean bill of health.
“The instruments in question are Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) equipment. TSCM equipment is utilized for [the] identification of eavesdropping devices and cannot be repurposed to perform any other offensive or collection functions. It is not intelligence gathering equipment as alleged,” reads the SSA report.
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Phalatse said the procurement and use of the equipment were in line with the legal security mandate of the unit, which is to prevent and investigate crimes committed against the city.
The anti-corruption unit and the city have come under pressure following allegations that Sibiya had been hired irregularly and over allegations of the unit being used against opposition parties.
The unit was a mayoral project under previous incumbent Herman Mashaba.
