State Security Council

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The State Security Council (SSC for short), German State Security Council , was an inter-ministerial cabinet committee founded in South Africa in 1972 (of a total of 20 committees) of some governments during the apartheid epoch . It served to coordinate and evaluate the work of the National Security Management System (NSMS) and to shape domestic policy. This body was created on the basis of the Security Intelligence and State Security Council Act (No. 64/1972).

In 1979, at the instigation of Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha , this working group became the most powerful of only four cabinet bodies left. This revaluation was based on the so-called Bothanomics , a reform program in apartheid policy, and created a parallel structure to the previous state administration.

Foundation and goals

The State Security Council was founded by Pieter Willem Botha , Magnus Malan and other consultants as the national control center for their internal security policy on the basis of a reorganization and streamlining of the government apparatus . In this way, what was then South Africa strengthened the position of the Directorate of Military Intelligence within existing informal government structures.

The aim of the SSC was to pursue a counterinsurgency strategy . Accompanying measures dealt with the organization of public support for security-related activities of the government according to the stipulation "Winning the hearts and minds" (short: WHAM, German about winning the hearts and thoughts ). The measures were aimed at identifying and neutralizing activists identified as anti-government, primarily the anti-apartheid struggle. Considerable financial resources were available for this.

Structures

State Security Council and its Secretariat

Pieter Willem Botha chaired the enlarged SSC, which was composed of the Defense Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Justice Minister and the Minister of Law and Order, as well as the Chief of the South African Army (SADF), the Chiefs of the Military and Intelligence Services, the Police Chiefs , the Chief of the The security police and, if necessary, other high-ranking government officials. The main working structure of the SSC was a work committee and the employees of its secretariat. The Working Committee met weekly to coordinate and review the ongoing activities of more than a dozen cross-departmental bodies. The approximately ninety employees of the secretariat were mainly recruited from military and intelligence experts.

The internal structure of the SSC consisted of four departments:

  • Security Strategy Department: Its task was to develop strategic options for action and to advise government policy.
  • National Security Department: This is where the review, assessment and interpretation of information collected by other agencies took place.
  • Strategic Communications Department: The impact of government psychological and public relations campaigns was studied.
  • Administration Department

Joint Management Center

The organizational structure below the SSC was divided into Joint Management Centers (JMCs) - joint communication and organization centers, which were managed by army or police officers (ranks between colonel and major-general ) and each of which had 50 to 55 employees. These were substructures that were connected to the command levels of the South African army.

In 1986 there were 12 Joint Management Centers , the number of which was later reduced to 9. At the beginning these were in the cities of Bloemfontein , Durban , Johannesburg , Cape Town , Kimberley , Nelspruit , Oudtshoorn , Pietersburg , Port Elizabeth , Potchefstroom , Pretoria and Walvis Bay .

There were also sub-centers in all major South African cities, managed by local officials, police officers and the military. A total of around 448 mini-centers worked on the basis of the National Security Management System .

The Joint Management Centers at all levels received advisory support from three bodies ( Joint Management Committees ) (communication, education and for the complex of constitutional law, economic and social issues). The representatives meeting there discussed problems that occurred promptly and across the boundaries of local, regional and national levels. This was intended to overcome the clumsiness of the administrations by quickly reaching the State Security Council with important consultation results and situation assessments . All information was received and processed by the Secretary of the State Security Council .

Military Area Radio Network

Another substructure emerged in the form of the Military Area Radio Network (MARNET), which has been developing since the mid-1980s. It was used for 24-hour communication between farmers in agricultural areas with short-term deployable police and army forces in their region. The purpose of this radio network was to protect the civilian population in the event of an armed uprising or terrorist attack, particularly in the northern Transvaal . It also organized general civil protection measures.

Adjacent structures

In close connection with the State Security Council was the Directorate of Security Legislation (German about: "Directorate for Security Legislation "). This was formally a division of the Department of Justice that was substantively subordinate to the Department of Law and Order ( Department of Law and Order ) by provision in the Internal Security Act (section 2 (2)) of 1982 . Concerns from the Ministry of the Interior regarding travel bans for South Africans were also incorporated . The Ministry of Justice was responsible for appointing the director of this department, but the law stipulated that the Minister of Police be involved.

Legislative consequences

The Security Intelligence and State Security Council Act ( No. 64/1972 ) was repealed by a proclamation by the President in the Government Gazette with the National Strategic Intelligence Act ( Act No. 39/1994 ), which came into force on January 1, 1995 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1972 , Johannesburg 1973, p. 70
  2. ^ Andrea Lang: Separate Development and the Department of Bantu Administration in South Africa. History and analysis of the special administrations for blacks (work from the Institute for Africa customer, 103), Hamburg 1999. P. 110–112 ISBN 3-928049-58-5
  3. ↑ a b SAIRR: Race Relations Survey, Part 2 . Johannesburg 1988, p. 815
  4. ^ Andrea Lang: Separate Development , 1999. p. 123
  5. ^ SAIRR: Survey, Part 2 . 1988, p. 816
  6. ^ Republic of South Africa: Internal Security Act (Act No. 74 of 1982) . Text at Wikisource at www.en.wikisource.org (English)
  7. ^ Republic of South Africa: National Strategic Intelligence Act . at www.ssa.gov.za (PDF; 48 kB), English