Kasrils was anti-Zuma 'conspirator' - Mbalula

A Business Day report says Mbalula claimed Kasrils was central to the political interference against Zuma. 'Ronnie Kasrils is one of the masterminds of the conspiracy. I pity the people that followed him,' Mbalula said. He was referring to people who left the ANC to form COPE without realising they were part of a conspiracy. After it had become clear that the country's spy agencies had entered the ANC's presidential battle in the run-up to the ruling party's Polokwane conference, a reshuffle of the country's spies was initiated by Mbeki and Kasrils, Mbalula said. And according to the report, he accused Kasrils of duplicity in handling the rot in the intelligence community in the wake of the NPA's illegal Special Browse Mole report. Mbalula said Kasrils had refused to act against Leonard McCarthy even after the former Scorpions boss admitted to Parliament that the crime-fighting unit had illegally compiled the Special Browse Mole report. 'The Zuma conspiracy originated from within state structures and Kasrils knew about it,' Mbalula is quoted as saying. Full Business Day report

Kasrils instructed intelligence services to seek his approval for 'sensitive projects and targets' relating to political intelligence or those with diplomatic implications. A Business Day report says this revelation, contained in the ministerial review commission report, comes in the wake of the controversy over tapes which led to the NPA dropping charges against Zuma. The intelligence review commission was established in 2006 to recommend ways of strengthening control over intelligence services, along with minimising the potential for illegal conduct and abuse of power. Its final report says that while there was no legal obligation for the intelligence services to obtain the Minister's permission in the use of intrusive methods, Kasrils sought more oversight following the intelligence crisis of 2005-06. The crisis, notes Business Day, related to Project Avani, whose mandate was to identify threats posed by the presidential succession debate, foreign services interests, the impending Zuma trial and poor service delivery. However, it became embroiled in illegal interceptions and hoax e-mails. Full Business Day report

Former President Thabo Mbeki will not be booted out of the ANC for allowing the alleged conspiracy against Zuma to happen under his watch, says Mbalula. A Cape Times report says Mbalula was responding to questions about his open letter to Mbeki in which he accused him of betraying former President Nelson Mandela's legacy. In the letter - which Mbalula said he had written in his 'personal capacity' - the former ANC Youth League leader also claimed Mbeki's style of governance had been responsible for the alleged conspiracy to charge Zuma with corruption. Mbalula said the ANC 'has not expelled anybody. Mbalula said Mbeki had been fired as President in September because of a breakdown in trust between him and the ANC leadership. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

The Zuma spy tapes continue to interest the media. In a Business Day report, the point is made that in all but two situations, law enforcement agencies have to apply for a 'direction' from a designated judge in order to tamper with any citizen's privacy. Those two exceptions, it says, are when there is cause to believe that someone's life might be under threat or where the communications can be intercepted in order to effect a rescue. In all other cases, either in writing or verbally, the permission of a judge must be obtained before any interception can be made. The report says if a senior member of the NIA leaked the taped conversations of former NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka and former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy, which resulted in the charges against Jacob Zuma being dropped, 'then some serious questions need to be asked. Because life and limb were not under threat, there should be a paper trail involving a High Court judge'. The report points out if there is not such paper trail, then an offence has been committed. 'From a reading of the law it seems that the tapes could not have been legally passed on to Zuma's lawyers,' the report says. Full Business Day report

Meanwhile, the NPA has egg on its face over its decision to drop the Zuma charges. Embarrassed officials have admitted acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe plagiarised a Hong Kong judgment in his explanation of why he was dropping the charges. But, according to a report in the Cape Times, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali insisted yesterday that Mpshe's failure to acknowledge his borrowing of Hong Kong High Court Justice Conrad Seagroatt's December 2002 ruling in his reasoning on the Zuma decision was an 'innocent oversight'. 'We are recognising that what we said was based on that judgment and we are in no way attempting to pass that ruling off as our own. We regret the oversight but it in no way detracts from the decision that advocate Mpshe reached (on the case against Zuma),' Tlali said. The report notes Tlali added Mpshe was fully aware his statement on the Zuma decision would receive international media attention and so would not have deliberately plagiarised any material. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed) See TODAY's ANALYSIS