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Jeff Radebe

Cape Town – Cabinet has condemned the leaking of top secret State Security Agency (SSA) documents, which it says threatens the country’s security. “Cabinet condemns in strongest terms the leaking of documents that may put the security of the country in jeopardy,” Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said yesterday.

Briefing journalists at Parliament following Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting on Wednesday, he said the executive welcomed the SSA’s current investigation into the matter.

Documents from several international spy agencies were leaked to international news network Al Jazeera, which last week started broadcasting and publishing their contents.

The documents cover the period 2006 to 2012. Among other things, they reveal details of the activities of Mossad, Israel’s secret service agency, in South Africa, as well as efforts by Iran to use the country to find its way around international sanctions.

Radebe said leaking the documents detailing the SSA’s operations was illegal.

“Cabinet reiterates the message by State Security Minister David Mahlobo that such conduct undermines operational effectiveness of the work to secure the country and its borders,” he said.

Meanwhile, within hours of Al Jazeera releasing the first reports about the leaked so-called spy cables, South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA) sent a chartered jet to “extract” at least four senior intelligence agents from their posts in Africa.

A source in the SSA said one agent was based in Cameroon and the other three were elsewhere on the continent.

A second source confirmed “at least four” agents were “extracted” within hours of the spy cables being released by the television network, which is based in Qatar.

“The guys were contacted early on Monday and told to be ready to be extracted. It happened very fast,” a source close to the SSA said.

“The leaks caused chaos in the SSA, and especially among the agents abroad. Some of the guys have been building and living their legends for years and years.

“Their cover is now blown. People within governments will be able to work out who the South African agents are. These operatives have been doing their work and now they’re compromised … It’s a gigantic f**k-up,” a former spy close to SSA said.

An investigation by SSA operatives and crime intelligence agents to find the source of the leak is now under way.

This week, Al Jazeera’s investigative unit released hundreds of pages of secret intelligence documents written by the SSA and foreign intelligence services, including Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Russia’s Federal Security Service and intelligence agents from South Korea.

The cables revealed how intelligence was shared between the SSA and international intelligence agencies, including the CIA in the US.

Last Saturday, SSA spokesperson Brian Dube said:

“The allegations of a withdrawal of foreign-based operatives from their postings is without basis and is strongly dismissed as yet another attempt at information peddling.

“We’ll not be drawn into speculation about those who might be behind the purported leak and their motives. The minister is on record indicating that a full investigation is under way.”

However, intelligence sources said this week that the leak was believed to have come from inside the SSA. -Sapa