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In an historic moment in the National Assembly today, a 100% vote in favour of the chosen appointment of the new Inspector General of Intelligence was swept through.

Three months ago the DA voted against the appointment of an ANC cadre to the position of Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI), and today every party in Parliament voted for our number one choice: Mr Imtiaz Fazel. Our grading on the extensive, live interviews gave him a 98% score.

The new Inspector General of Intelligence must hit the ground running, and focus on issues that have seized the citizenry in recent months. Top of the investigations would be:

The Phala Phala dollar imbroglio President Ramaphosa finds himself couched in;

The tracking down and return of the millions looted via the State Security Agency as revealed in the Zondo Commission, and

Find the reasons for the delay in the implementation of the High Level Review Panel Report, and deal decisively with them.

As seen in the live, broadcast interviews for the position, Mr Imtiaz Fazel showed an encyclopedic knowledge of the workings of the office of the Inspector General of Intelligence, and indeed was the only candidate who presented innovative solutions to current and possible future issues. He showed real out-the-box thinking.

As an acting-Director General he pushed the performance at Public Works up from 62% to 69% for the KPAs in terms of their latest annual report. A job well done in that Augean Stable of a Department.

It is a tough and thankless job, and the previous IG, Dr Dintwe, who came second in our grading – proved to have a backbone of steel – especially in fighting off the attack by Arthur Fraser.

This is a specific position that needs someone who will not give in to pressure from Ministers who deal with the State Security Agency, Crime or Defence Intelligence, attempting to protect certain favourites within their departments. Decisions have to be taken and pushed ahead no matter how unpopular they are.

The entire thrust of the High Level review panel report was that Intelligence must be apolitical…not supporting any Governing party faction and seldom has there been a time when the factions have been as strong – The HLRP report proved what we had long contended, that these intelligence agencies, notably the SSA, were doing the bidding of a faction of the ANC.

This is the man we believe has the ability to deal decisively with people who have looted hundreds of millions of rands – as was all laid out in technicolour detail during the Zondo Commission.

Issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP - DA Member of Parliament