Zuma’s super spy’s secret trial

Former President Jacob Zuma's “super spy”, the once feared and powerful Thulani Dlomo, has gone on trial in great secrecy with a fellow former spy boss for allegedly making off with R12 million of State Security Agency (SSA) funds under false pretenses. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Willem Els of the Security Initiative for Africa (SIA) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) says: “If you look at the sheer amounts of money that are actually moving around and being moved within these agencies, this 12 million is maybe just sort of the tip of the iceberg.” Dlomo’s trial is the first major criminal action against the SSA in the post-Zuma era. In another major first, the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry laid criminal charges against a subpoenaed witness for dodging his appearance, resulting in the airport arrest of former African National Congress (ANC) moneyman Suliman Carrim. “It is very crucial that Mr Carrim needs to come and answer some questions,” says Els. He also weighed in on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s belated reinstatement of National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola after the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) dropped charges against him. “I think there was a lot of pressure on the Presidency to reinstate him and they had to do so because it seems that legally they did not have any leverage to further his suspension.” He urges for the SAPS Reset to “cut deep and hard”.