11 Aug 2020

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, says disclosure of information on investigations conducted by the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS)  may be injurious to public interests and the country.

Answering a question in Parliament on August 10, Mr Mthimkhulu said he, therefore, would not be in a position to produce some of the information as requested by Mmadinare MP, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi

“This in terms of Section 20 of the Intelligence and Security Services Act 23:02. is fundamentally critical for the security of the country,” he said.

Furthermore, he said as part of the functions of the DIS, investigations on economic threats were conducted during the 2018/2019 and beyond.

He said the directorate had also, based on intelligence on a prevailing threat, conducted investigations on political threats and had disseminated information to the relevant structures within government.

According to Mr Mthimkhulu, the said cultural threats had also been identified in the course of investigations and there were prevalent amongst the youth.

The main cause of the cultural threats, he said, were  high abuse in alcohol and narcotic substances that led to a moral degradation.

Mmadinare MP, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi had asked the minister to update Parliament on the total number of people arrested by the DIS in the 2018/2019 financial year.

He also wanted to know, whether during their investigations DIS identified any economic threats to the country and how much expenditure was involved in investigating and analysing the economic threats, if during their investigations DIS identified any political threats to the country, and how much expenditure was involved in investigating and analysing the political threats.

Mr Molebatsi also wanted to know whether during their investigations DIS identified any cultural threats to the country. ENDS