Why South Africa seems to have one of the world’s leakiest spy agencies

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Just a few days before its secret "spy cables" were leaked to the world's media in such embarrassing detail, South Africa's espionage agency had been caught in an equally cringe-worthy moment.

A cellphone signal scrambler had been secretly and mysteriously installed inside Parliament, just hours before President Jacob Zuma's state-of-the-nation speech on Feb. 12. The cellphone of every journalist and politician was blocked, threatening to prevent any live coverage of opposition MPs who were planning to interrupt Mr. Zuma's speech.

Only after an hour of furious protests by journalists and the opposition were the cellphones finally unscrambled. And only days later did the State Security Agency finally admit that it was responsible for the cell-jamming incident.

The agency muttered something about low-level officials having installed the jamming device without authorization, apparently because they were trying to enforce a "no-fly" policy over Parliament for the safety of the president. It was a nonsensical excuse, and it's still unclear why the agency was blocking the legitimate use of cellphones. Critics said it was an illegal and unconstitutional move.

But the confusion over the cell-scrambling device was just a foreshadowing of the agency's next fiasco: having its secret documents leaked to Al Jazeera and revealed in excruciating detail on the Internet for everyone to see.

The leak was a global sensation: It contained revelations, for example, of secret reports by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, which contradicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iranian nuclear issue.

To understand the "spy cables" controversy, the South African connection is crucial. South Africa seems to have one of the leakiest and most politicized intelligence agencies in the world, and that's probably why the leaks originated in South Africa.

The cell-scrambling scandal was just the latest example of the agency's excesses. Its agents have often been involved in preparing "dossiers" that are used for political fights within the South African establishment. With its lengthy history of political involvement, the State Security Agency seems to be less concerned with safeguarding its internal security than with ensuring its position on the winning side of the political struggles.

A newspaper cartoon last week by the country's most famous cartoonist, Zapiro, satirized the absurdity of the latest leaks. It showed street hawkers offering a stack of South African spy documents on a street corner to passing motorists, alongside other cheap wares sold by the hawkers.

One of the documents leaked to Al Jazeera last week was further evidence of the leakiness of the South African intelligence agency. The 11-page document gave a long list of "security vulnerabilities" in the government: everything from unprotected laptops and easily stolen computers to rampant fraud and corruption within the bureaucracy and "serious deficiencies" in the government's communications technology.

"Continuing lack of an acceptable standard of security at client institutions (government departments, parastatals and national key points) increases the risk," the report said.

Access to fax machines and communications equipment in the South African government was "virtually uncontrolled," it added.

The leaked documents confirmed what we should have already suspected: The world's spy agencies, like the South African spy agency, are often used for political purposes. It was a reality that the world saw most obviously in 2003, when false intelligence reports and exaggerated espionage claims were used to justify the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. But the U.S. is far from the only government to misuse its spy agencies, as the leaked documents showed.

South Korea, for example, used its intelligence agency to demand a secret monitoring report on the director of Greenpeace International. Cameroon used its spies to seek information on the travels of an opposition politician. Rwanda tried to get classified information on its political dissidents abroad, and Zimbabwe and South Africa plotted to spy on climate-change activists.

In its official reaction to the massive leak of secret documents, South Africa's state security agency revealed again how it becomes easily embroiled in political matters. Its statement hinted strongly that it would be investigating one of President Zuma's biggest critics: Thuli Madonesela, the Public Protector, who heads a watchdog agency that has disclosed how Mr. Zuma personally benefited from excessive state spending on his private residence.

Some government officials and dubious "social media" accounts have accused Ms. Madonsela of being a CIA spy – an absurd claim that was clearly designed to discredit her investigation into Mr. Zuma. But instead of ignoring or rejecting those claims, the statement by the State Security Minister vowed to "look further" into the alleged "espionage activities" by the unnamed official – and he made it clear that he was referring to Ms. Madonsela.

It was yet another reminder that the power of espionage can be misused by powerful governments around the world.