Spy projects on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, Mahlobo tells Zondo

In the murky world of intelligence operations, covert projects would be labelled by any name, with information only provided on a need-to-know basis, former state security minister David Mahlobo yesterday told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

In what resembled a lecture offered by Mahlobo to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and evidence leader Peter Pretorius on the inner workings of the country’s State Security Agency (SSA), Mahlobo was asked whether it was not falsification of documents, to label them in a meaningless manner.

Pretorius: “You say the official record of the secret services do not reflect the full nature of operations and projects run by CDSO [Central Directorate for Security Operations], as these were covert.

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“That statement is somehow puzzling, Mr Mahlobo“If the secret records do not reflect the true nature of the operations on projects, are there any records which reflect those?”

Responded Mahlobo: “The true nature of these projects was only known to the project managerand the team, commonly referred to as assets.

“Once again, information about these projects would only be provided to those who needed to know.”

Pretorius: “Are you saying the documents were falsified to hide the nature of the project – that the full detail of the project would not necessarily be reflected in the official record?”

Mahlobo: “That is correct.” Zondo: “You are saying anyone who wants to know what is there and what is covered there, won’t find the records correctly reflecting the project?”

Mahlobo: “My affidavit says the official records of the secret service do not reflect the true nature of the operation.

“You have documents that they have given you – some declassified – but you cannot get a sense of what is there. The doctrine is that if you are not supposed to know, you will not know.

“What I knew was what came to my attention.”

Mahlobo has refuted allegations of knowledge or involvement in an operation to bribe judges – accusations levelled at him by witnesses in earlier testimonies.

Brian Sokutu