Parliament extends deadline for position of Inspector-General of Intelligence

The joint standing committee on intelligence has extended the deadline for the position of Inspector-General of Intelligence, with the term of Sethlomamaru Dintwe coming to an end in the next few months.

The committee has pushed the deadline back until the end of September after it was initially set down for the end of July.

Chairperson of the joint standing committee, Jerome Maake, said there had been an interest in the matter.

“Cognisant of the importance of the position and the inquiries received from the public, the committee resolved to extend the closing date to enable those who missed the advertisement an opportunity to apply for the position,” said Maake.

Dintwe has been in office for the last four years but has had run-ins with some of the ministers in government.

In his testimony at the Zondo Commission earlier this year, he told Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who chairs the commission, that some ministers did not want to give evidence.

Dintwe was appointed to the position in March 2017 for a period of five years. His term will come to an end in March next year.

The appointment of Dintwe came after opposition MPs had rejected the ANC’s candidate for the position, Cecil Burgess.

Burgess had previously chaired the intelligence committee and the ad hoc committee that processed the Protection of State Information Bill.

Almost all the parties had backed Dintwe in November 2016 when the parties voted in his support as the law requires that the candidate must get a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

A few months later, former president Jacob Zuma formally appointed Dintwe in March 2017 to the position of inspector-general.

Political Bureau