State Security Council

On 5 September 1969, Prime Minister John Vorster formed a commission led by Justice H.J. Potgieter to establish the guidelines and mission for intelligence gathering by the Military Intelligence (later DMI) and the Bureau for State Security (BOSS). Part of this act established the formation of the State Security Council under the control of the cabinet and established it as the government's national centre for operational security. Due to the domination of BOSS, the State Security Council under Vorster would meet infrequently and would be purely advisory. ==B.J Vorster years and the SSC==

In October 1974, Vorster initiated a foreign policy of "Détente" seeking support for a constellation of Southern African states who would be a united front against a common enemy, communism. The use of white buffers states began to fail in 1974 with a coup in Portugal, known as the Carnation Revolution, and by 1975 African nationalist groups were in control of its colonies of Angola and Mozambique. This plan envisioned the mobilization of South Africa's military, economic, political and social resources so as to defend and advance the country's interests at home and abroad and also called for an increase in the military budget so as to balance the playing fields relative to the southern African states. By 2 October 1978, Prime Minister B.J. Vorster had resigned and on 9 October, the Defence Minister PW Botha was appointed as the new Prime Minister of South Africa. ==PW Botha years and the SSC==

Vorster was appointed as State President on 10 October but would resign in May 1979 when the results of the Erasmus Commission of Inquiry into the Information Scandal were released in that year. In November 1980, PW Botha ordered a Rationalisation Committee be formed to rationalise the intelligence services so as to improve the co-ordination of intelligence in the State Security Council. This committee met between 14 and 19 January 1981 in Simonstown to finalise the functions of each department. This resulted in the Simonstown Accords with the NIS responsible for political and economic intelligence, counter-intelligence and evaluation. DMI would be responsible for military intelligence and contra-mobilisation within South Africa and externally. The Security Branch would be responsible for counter-subversion within South Africa and externally. By 1985, the South African government realized that its 1983 Tricameral Parliament and its new constitution was a failure as it left out black representation and was responsible for the loss of control of the large townships in the Vaal Triangle and the Eastern Cape to the ANC and its revolutionary struggle. On 21 July 1985, PW Bothas declared a State of Emergency to counter the violence in magisterial districts representing one-third of the country. PW Botha delivered his Rubicon speech to the world on 15 August 1985 that failed to announce the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid, rather continuing the current policy. The negative speech had serious financial implications with a drop in the value of the Rand and the reduction of international loans, caused the SSC to realize that the Total Onslaught was not just by communist forces but also had a component of Western hostility. In April 1986, the SSC developed guidelines to adopt a counter-revolutionary war by using anti-revolutionary groups within South Africa to counter the arming of black communities by ANC by arming and training anti-ANC groups. On 9 May 1986, the SSC received a document concerning a new force to counter revolutionary forces and consensus was reached in the council to create the force. This resulted in the formation of the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) with the front company was launched by the South African Special Forces that May. In June 1986, Operation Marion was approved by the SSC with the DMI responsible for training Zulu Inkatha paramilitary forces to counter ANC forces in the townships and this strategy would be attempted in the Ciskei and the Transkei. On 12 June 1986, the governments State of Emergency, cancelled on 7 March 1986, was re-extended to the whole country. Its purpose was to restore law and order, normalise life in the townships so as to create a circumstance for constitutional, economic and social development. ==Council membership==

The Act called for the following persons to be members of the State Security Council: • Prime Minister • Minister of Defence • Minister of Foreign Affairs • Minister of Justice • Minister of Police • Chief of the Defence Force • Chief of the South African Police • Director-General of Bureau for State Security (BOSS) (later National Intelligence Service (NIS)) • Secretary of Foreign Affairs • Secretary of Justice and anyone one else required to aid the discussions. ==Organisational structure==

The State Security Council (SSC) presided over the National Security Management System (NSMS) of President P.W. Botha's National Party Government in South Africa. Its function was to advise the government on formulating and executing national security policy. Botha himself chaired the SSC, which was served by a secretariat of 100 full-time staff seconded from other government departments. The SSC had four divisions: • Strategy Planning Branch (Strategy Branch) • Strategic Communications (Stratkom) • National Intelligence Interpretation Branch, (NIIB) and • Administration Branch Secretariat Established in 1979, these are the three secretaries of the State Security Council: • Lt Gen A.J. van Deventer (19791985) Deputy secretary for most of the 1980s was Major-General J.F van Rensburg. Such action included assassination of people opposed to the apartheid government's policies, and the widespread use of abduction, arson, sabotage and torture. The SSC put pressure on the security forces to "engage robustly" against persons and organisations opposed to the government. The Joint Management Centres had two main roles. One, to obtain intelligence in the areas of the country they operated especially the activities of the African National Congress (ANC), Pan-African Congress (PAC) and later in the mid-eighties, the United Democratic Front (UDF) but essentially any organisation the SSC thought acted against the interests of the state. Its secondary role, that was neglected due to the overriding interests of the security and intelligence brief, was the implementation of the executive strategy and policy to improve the socio-economic and political affairs in the regions controlled by the JMC which were the three of the four pillars of the governments Total Strategy. These roles could be defined as through military control, bring stability to the townships, restoring the role of the state in those communities which would legitimise the states role and finally in the long term anticipating and controlling future resistance through the implementation of political, social and economic reform. Structure There were twelve JMC's based in each province and capital city which replicated the SADF command regions and under the command of a SADF Brigadier, except the Western Cape and Witwatersrand, which were under the command of a South African Police (SAP) Divisional Commander. There were also five external JMC's, Walvis Bay, Namibia Command, Southern Command (five Black Homelands), Northern Command (Frontline States) and Angola. The internal JMC'c were broken down into further three levels. There were sixty Sub-JMC's under the control of a SAP district commander and roughly covered the country's police districts. Mini-JMC's with 450 in total which covered the South African magisterial districts and represented by a local SAP commander. Last level of control of South African society was through Local Management Centres (LMC) which would be based in city and towns. Information would move back and forth from the lowest levels to the JMC, then SSC, its working committee and finally the cabinets and prime minister or state president. The following seven components made up each Joint Management Centres and were replicated to a large extent in the lower levels of the Sub and Mini JMC's and was itself similar to the State Security Council's structure: • Executive Committee – this was made up by the head of the individual JMC and the committee heads listed below • Secretariat – administration of the JMC • Security Committee (SECCOM/VEIKOM) – main aim was to plan, monitor and co-ordinate the security forces. The operational role was under the command of a SAP commander through a Joint Operations Centre. Members of this committee included the SAP, SADF, NIS, Security Police, Railway Police, Civil defence, Commandos and state and provincial officials • Joint Intelligence Committee (JICOM/GIKOM) – main aim was to provide daily intelligence to the other committees. The operational role was under the command of an Army Intelligence commander through a Joint Intelligence Centre. Members of this committee included the Directorate Military Intelligence (DMI), NIS, Security Police, Prisons Service, Kitskonstabels, private security firms and provincial, regional and local affairs • Communication Committee (COMCOM/KOMKOM) – main aim was to compile and disseminate propaganda in their area of JMC. Members of this committee consisted of the SAP, SADF and Bureau of Information • Constitutional, Economic and Welfare Committee – main aim was to implement the National Welfare Management strategy of the government. Members included civil servants from housing, finance, constitutional affairs and pensions • Liaison Committee – communication with the public sector ==FW De Klerk years and the SSC==

PW Botha suffered a stroke in January 1989 and by 14 August 1989 he had resigned due to ill health. FW de Klerk was first appointed to the role of acting South African President and then on 20 September as State President. The same newspaper report alleged that, in his last months as president in 1994, de Klerk ordered the wholesale shredding and incineration of tons of documents, microfilm and computer tapes that dealt with matters such as the chain of command in covert operations. ==New security structure and post 1994 investigations==

A Transitional Executive Council (TEC) was formed by an act of parliament in September 1993 and was made up of members of the political parties who had negotiated the transition to free and fair elections that would take place in April 1994. The TEC would essentially run the country until the election and was made up of seven sub-committees, composed of members of the negotiating political parties, with one of those committees responsible for intelligence. These six intelligence organisations consisted of the NIS, Department of Intelligence and Security (ANC), Pan African Security Service (PAC), and the three intelligence services of Venda, Transkei and Bophuthatswana. The TRC also found that the SSC had contributed to the prevailing culture of impunity by failing to recommend that action be taken against those members of the security forces who were involved in gross human rights violations. SSC and Samora Machel In 1996, the TRC conducted a special investigation into the 1986 aircrash in which president Samora Machel of Mozambique was killed. The investigation was unable to prove an allegation that South Africa was behind the Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 air disaster, but the TRC stated in its report: South Africa's State Security Council (SSC) minutes from January 1984 indicate that the Mozambican working group, including General Jac Buchner and Major Craig Williamson, discussed how to help RENAMO overthrow the FRELIMO government of Mozambique. == References ==