Johannesburg – Former spy boss Sam Muofhe has turned down a chance to be the inspector-general of intelligence (IGI), fueling speculation about his future.
Muofhe had served as the head of the domestic branch of the defunct State Security Agency (SSA), which has since been moved to the Presidency in the wake of the July unrest that engulfed Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal.
He had been shortlisted to the powerful post as head of the watchdog of the country’s intelligence structures, along with the current incumbent Setlhomamaru Dintwe, ANC veteran Frank Chikane, brigadier-general Phumzile Fongoqa and advocate Jayashree Govender, among others.
An ally of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Muofhe was credited with ringing in the changes at the SSA during his tenure, often butting heads with former state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo.
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The office of the IGI monitors and I’vestigates complaints against SAPS’s crime intelligence division, the SANDF’s defence intelligence division and the SSA.
The IGI is accountable to parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence and is responsible to the president and relevant ministers.
In a letter to Jerome Maake, the head of parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence, Muofhe said he could not avail himself for the position of the IGI.
“Honourable chairperson, I … thank you for the letter you e-mailed me on 3 December 2021, informing me that I am one of the candidates shortlisted for the position of the inspector-general of intelligence.
Chairperson, due to personal reasons, I am unable to avail myself for the interviews of the IGI position,” he said.
“I wish the candidates who will be interviewed for this crucial position everything of the best in the interviews.”
Muofhe had a long-running battle with Dintwe, who accused him of falsifying his qualifications.
In September, Dintwe cleared Muofhe of the false accusations, a year after he told eNCA that he was investigating an anonymous complaint against the spy boss.
Moufhe is suing Dintwe.
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