South Africa's new intelligence boss has vowed to shake up the agency and rid it of politically partisan spooks who found themselves in the middle of ANC succession battles. He has also promised to crack down on unauthorised interceptions of communication and to fire operatives who leak sensitive information.
Jeff Maqetuka, the newly appointed director-general of the State Security Agency - a new, powerful agency which combines the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the SA Secret Service (SASS) - has laid down the law and has promised to "chop" those spooks who leak sensitive information and conduct unauthorised spy operations.
"No intelligence service can allow a situation where there are random leaks," he said. "The country cannot afford that. Clearly, mechanisms will have to be put in place to deal with this phenomenon. Should an agent do these things, you chop his head or her head so that it should be a lesson to the others."
Maqetuka said he would sort out the divisions in the intelligence community that emanated from the ANC's succession battle leading up to the party's 2007 Polokwane conference.
Speaking to Independent Newspapers after his appointment by President Jacob Zuma this week, Maqetuka assured citizens that there would be no repeat of the shenanigans that brought the country's intelligence services into disrepute.
Zuma also appointed two of his close allies to top posts in the intelligence service. Moe Shaik is now head of the foreign intelligence service, the SASS, and Gibson Njenje, another casualty of Zuma's fight with former president Thabo Mbeki, will head the NIA, the domestic intelligence arm.
Zuma seems to have opted for those loyal to him when appointing the three new bosses. They have been part of his inner circle since their days in exile, when he was chief of the ANC's intelligence department.
The Sunday Independent understands that some ANC leaders cautioned against the appointment of Shaik, ostensibly because he knew a lot about many ANC leaders and concerns about his maverick character. But Zuma apparently stood his ground in what opposition parties now regard as a reward for a loyal ally.
Njenje was fired by Mbeki as NIA operations chief in 2005 for unauthorised surveillance of former ANC national executive committee member, businessman and prominent Mbeki ally Saki Macozoma. He was later cleared and resigned from the NIA.
Some sources said the return of the ANC intelligence team previously in charge of Operation Vula - the ANC's underground operation to infiltrate the country in the 1980s - could signal the dawn of "spynation".
Some said the appointments of loyalists signified Zuma's intent on having a firm grip on intelligence as members of the ANC begin prematurely debating the thorny issue of succession. Zuma made his concerns on succession clear at the Cosatu congress, promising to "name and shame" those who were involved in "midnight" plots on who should be deposed.
Maqetuka, the current ambassador to Algeria, cut his teeth in the ANC's department of intelligence and security in 1979, working under Zuma.
He said he would not allow spooks to play a part in politics, because it led to partisanship.
"We will reprimand them because they will embarrass the country, the government, the minister and the president. It is a norm and a practice that intelligence services should never get involved in politics and political activities."
Maqetuka, who claimed he was a "bystander" of the events leading up to Polokwane which divided the intelligence community, said he anticipated a "great" working relationship with Njenje and Shaik because they went "way back".
The inspector-general of intelligence is currently probing the interceptions of telephonic conversations between former National Prosecuting Authority boss Bulelani Ngcuka and Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy, which were obtained illegally by Zuma's lawyers battling corruption charges against the president.
Shaik is said to have played a key role in the acquisition of the tapes, in which Ngcuka and McCarthy share information on the timing of the corruption charges against Zuma. The tapes proved decisive in the NPA's decision to let Zuma off the hook.
Shaik is believed to have "leaked" the news of Zuma's imminent acquittal and the existence of the tapes to newspapers.