Pretoria - The State Security Agency has started a process of improving the capacity of intelligence services, State Security Minister David Mahlobo announced on Wednesday.
Delivering his Budget Vote in the National Assembly, the minister said: “Improving our capacity is premised on our appreciation of the role of intelligence in securing the South African State, its sovereignty, its people, infrastructure and resources.
“Our task is to make intelligence relevant, effective and robust to deal with the evolving nature of threats both domestically and globally.
“We need to improve the intelligence community through better coordination of operations, exchange of information and innovation in conducting our work.”
The minister also announced that steps are being taken to introduce and review regulations under the three intelligence pieces of legislation that were amended by Parliament in 2013 through the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act.
He further said a process has commenced internally to align the policy with the 21st century national and global security challenges.
Once the internal process is completed, Minister Mahlobo said they will consult members of the public for input.
“These efforts are necessitated by the complexities of new threats, as well as the increasing number of issues that occupy the global and national security agenda. This has forced the intelligence structures to adopt a different posture to human, financial and material resourcing.
“This implies that our department would have to strategically prioritise the attraction of new skills … that would enable us to deliver on our priorities for the next five years, while paying serious attention to the reskilling of existing personnel to be better equipped in the emerging trends of our tradecraft,” he said.
Bolstering stability
Minister Mahlobo said during this financial year and term, they are going to pay attention to the causes of instability by focusing on understanding the factors, processes and role-players that give rise to social and economic instability.
The minister said this will involve intensifying efforts to fight corruption, organised crime, illegal migration and illicit economic activity. Parallel to this process will be supporting efforts to promote energy, food, water and environmental security.
“Our national security is not only about securing our state; but it is also about creating the proper conditions for nation building, the development of a national identity, common patriotism, and the development of our country to become a prosperous, thriving democracy.
“We will strengthen our early warning systems to respond adequately to the ever changing domestic and global security issues such as international and domestic forms of terrorism and extremism, addressing cyber-attacks and securing our cyberspace and managing our national borders more effectively,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
