Eskom and State Security Agency sign collaborative agreement

Electricity parastal Eskom and the State Security Agency (SSA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on security vetting, Eskom has confirmed.

“The agreement is effective immediately in terms of section 2A (5A) of the National Strategic Intelligence Act, 1994 (Act 39 of 1994),” Eskom said in a statement.

“The memorandum of understanding gives Eskom the mandate to establish vetting fieldwork units to conduct vetting investigations internally on behalf of [the] SSA. [The] SSA shall be responsible for training internal Eskom vetting investigators free of charge and may assist on the recruitment of the vetting staff,” Eskom divisional executive for security Tebogo Rakau said.

Eskom aspired to ensure that vetting applications, once accepted by the vetting function, should not take more than four months before security clearances were issued to applicants. “The days of waiting for security clearances for years are coming to an end,” Rakau said.

The vetting process was guarded by strict confidentiality clauses audited by the SSA and internally by Eskom from time to time. Eskom employees and contractors who had access to classified information and/or national key points but currently did not have valid security clearances issued by the SSA were by law required to complete the declaration of secrecy forms before such access was granted, Eskom said.

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