A spy unit established when Jacob Zuma was South Africa\u2019s president employed tactics to neutralize anti-government groups and undermine Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s campaign to lead the ruling African National Congress, according to a government report on the State Security Agency.<\/p>\n
The unit was deployed ahead of a January 2016 party meeting in Rustenburg to \u201cimpede distribution\u201d of officials\u2019 uniforms and block routes for \u201cdissident groups from Gauteng Province,\u201d according to the 101-page report.<\/p>\n
The unit \u201chad largely become a parallel intelligence structure serving a faction of the ruling party and, in particular, the personal political interests of the sitting president of the party and country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa, 66, in June established a high-level review panel with 10 members, headed by former minister Sydney Mufamadi, to investigate and review the intelligence services over the past 10 years. Zuma was ousted by his own party before the end of his second term.<\/p>\n
Since replacing Zuma, Ramaphosa has vowed to tackle corruption, improve investor sentiment and raise $100 billion in investment over five years to help revive an ailing economy, which expanded 0.8% in 2018, according to Statistics South Africa.<\/p>\n
He also established a judicial commission to probe alleged looting of state funds and undue influence at state owned companies and government departments during Zuma\u2019s terms in office.<\/p>\n
The unit also actively sought to neutralize the insurgency against Zuma\u2019s administration, the report said. It infiltrated the media and created fake news through a political campaign in the 2016 local government elections.<\/p>\n
The unit\u2019s operation included, \u201cinfiltrating and influencing the media in order, apparently, to counter bad publicity for the country, the then president and the SSA,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n