The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) was the previous name of an intelligence agency of the South African government. Currently it is known as the Domestic Branch of the State Security Agency. It is responsible for domestic and counter-intelligence within the Republic of South Africa. The branch is run by a Director, who reports to the Director-General of the State Security Agency. The Director is also a member of the National Intelligence Co-Ordinating Committee (NICOC).
Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, sometimes referred to by her initials NDZ, is a South African politician, medical doctor and former anti-apartheid activist. A longstanding member of the African National Congress (ANC), she currently serves as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and is the Chancellor of the University of Limpopo.
The National Treasury is one of the departments of the South African government. The Treasury manages national economic policy, prepares the South African government's annual budget and manages the government's finances. Along with the South African Revenue Service and Statistics South Africa, the Treasury falls within the portfolio of the Minister of Finance. Throughout the course of President Jacob Zuma's second administration, the ministry has undergone several changes. Most notably, Nhlanhla Nene was suddenly dismissed on 9 December 2015, without explanation, and replaced with a relatively unknown parliamentary back-bencher from the ruling ANC's caucus, David 'Des' van Rooyen for a record-total of 3 days. He was, in turn, replaced by Pravin Gordhan after the President faced significant pressure from political and business groups over the move. On 30 March 2017 Jacob Zuma axed Pravin Gordhan and appointed Malusi Gigaba as a Finance Minister. Following Zuma's resignation, President Cyril Ramaphosa returned Nhlanhla Nene as Minister in his cabinet reshuffle on 26 February 2018.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the revenue service of the South African government. It administers the country's tax system and customs service, and enforces compliance with related legislation. It is governed by the SARS Act 34 of 1997, which established it as "an organ of state within the public administration, but as an institution outside the public service." It thus has a significant degree of administrative autonomy, although it is under the policy control of the Minister of Finance. Effectively, SARS manages, administrates, and implements the tax regime as designed by the Minister and National Treasury.
Jacques Pauw is a South African investigative journalist who was an executive producer of the Special Assignment current affairs programme on SABC. Pauw was a founding member and assistant editor of the anti-apartheid Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad. He began his television career in 1994, specializing in documentaries around the African continent.
Julius Sello Malema is a South African politician who is a Member of Parliament and the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a left-wing party which he founded in 2013. He was formerly the President of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League from 2008 until his expulsion from the party in 2012.
General elections were held in South Africa on 7 May 2014, to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures in each province. It was the fifth election held in South Africa under conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994, and also the first held since the death of Nelson Mandela. It was also the first time that South African expatriates were allowed to vote in a South African national election.
AfriForum is a South African non-governmental organisation focused mainly on the interests of Afrikaners, a subgroup of the country's white population. AfriForum has been frequently described as a white nationalist, alt-right, and Afrikaner nationalist group, a description rejected by the organisation's leadership, who refer to themselves as a civil rights group.
Athol Williams is a South African poet, social philosopher and public intellectual based at Oxford University.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African left-wing to far-left pan-Africanist and Marxist–Leninist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013. Malema is President of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team which serves as the central structure of the party. It is currently the third-largest party in both houses of the South African Parliament.
The Hawks are the South African Police Services' Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), which targets organised crime, economic crime, corruption, and other serious crime referred to it by the President or another division of the South African Police Service (SAPS). It was set up as the Scorpions by the Thabo Mbeki administration in 2001 but President Jacob Zuma replaced it with the Hawks as its succession in 2008, with much new associates.
Gayton McKenzie is a businessman and the current Mayor of The Central Karoo District in South Africa businessman, motivational speaker, author, and president of the Patriotic Alliance political party. He came to prominence in the early 2000s for his role in a prison exposé that eventually led to his early release amid an investigation of prison corruption by the Jali Commission of Inquiry. McKenzie grew up in the Bloemfontein neighborhood of Heidedal, South Africa. He is also a prominent member of Operation Dudula.
Black First Land First (BLF) is a black consciousness, pan-Africanist and revolutionary socialist political movement and political party in South Africa. It was founded in 2015 by Andile Mngxitama following his expulsion from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema.
The Gupta family is a wealthy Indian-born family with business interests in South Africa, whose most notable members are brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupta—as well as Atul's nephews Varun, and US-based Ashish and Amol. The family owns a business empire spanning computer equipment, media, and mining. The family name became synonymous with corruption in South Africa and they have been sanctioned by multiple countries for their activities.
Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others; Democratic Alliance v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others [2016] ZACC 11 is a major judgment of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which finds that President Jacob Zuma breached the South African Constitution by failing to implement the recommendations in the Public Protector's Nkandla report.
General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.
Tom Moyane is a South African development economist and former commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Arthur Fraser is a South African civil servant and former intelligence operative who was head of the State Security Agency from 2016 to 2018 and National Commissioner for Correctional Services from 2018 to 2021. He was previously an anti-apartheid activist in the African National Congress, a senior official in the now-defunct National Intelligence Agency, and briefly a senior official in the Department of Home Affairs.
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State, better known as the Zondo Commission or State Capture Commission, is a public inquiry established in January 2018 by former President Jacob Zuma to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption, and fraud in the public sector in South Africa.
Our Poisoned Land: Living in the Shadows of Zuma's Keepers a 2022 book by Jacques Pauw, a South African investigative journalist, about the allegedly corrupt power networks between the South African government and the country's political elite, most notably the African National Congress (ANC). The book follows on from Pauw's 2017 book The President's Keepers but with greater focus on government institutions not looked at in the previous book and the State Security Agency (SSA). It is updated to include findings from government committees and investigations such as the Zondo Commission. It asks why, after 5 years since the end of the Zuma administration, have most people implicated in state corruption still not been prosecuted and examines efforts to fight corruption in the post-Jacob Zuma ANC government under Cyril Ramaphosa.
