ANC Youth League boss loses cellphone

ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa’s phone went missing at the national executive committee meeting of the ANC, an occurrence that some in the league interpret as the work of unidentified intelligence officers who are investigating his political activities.

The Sunday Independent has learnt from three sources, one of whom attended the meeting, that ANC deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise brought the NEC meeting – held at the St George’s Hotel outside Irene, south of Pretoria, between August 19 and 22 – to a standstill to announce that Magaqa’s iPhone had gone missing.

This is despite the tight security at all ANC executive committee gatherings.

The cellphones of all executive committee members are sealed in envelopes during the meetings and are always under the watchful eye of the ANC security company, Zonkiziwe Security Services.

An executive member said it was unusual that a leader would lose a phone at the meeting.

“Thandi (Modise) went up and down… (searching for the phone). Magaqa’s phone disappeared without a trace. The suspicion is that the phone will be bugged,” the leader said.

“The meeting was brought to a standstill. Thandi announced at the meeting (that Magaqa’s phone) had gone missing,” the leader said.

Another source from Luthuli House, the ANC head office in central Joburg, said Magaqa was being investigated, but could not elaborate what he was being probed for.

“The suspicion is that he is being investigated,” the source said.

Magaqa was spotted on the sidelines of last week’s NEC meeting with a Blackberry.

He refused to comment, referring questions to ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu. “This is the NEC of the ANC,” he said.

Mthembu could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

It also appears that the loss of Magaqa’s phone confirmed the youth league’s allegations that its leaders in Limpopo were being investigated by unnamed people claiming to be from the National Intelligence Agency.

Earlier this month, the league’s spokesman Floyd Shivambu issued a stinging statement, alleging that party members were being clandestinely investigated by people who identified themselves as “intelligence officers” who wanted to know Malema’s supporters who travelled to Luthuli House to support their leader on the first day of his disciplinary hearing.

“It has come to the attention of the national leadership of the ANC Youth League that there are people with no form of identification who call themselves national intelligence and visit members and leaders of the ANC Youth League in provinces,” he said.

“We understand that these people visit in the early hours of the morning to interrogate ANCYL members and leaders about supporters of the ANCYL who gathered to support the charged leadership in Joburg over the past few weeks. The ANC Youth League condemns this kind of intimidation and harassment by these unmarked people, because we do not know what their real intentions are and whether they are legitimate officers of the South African State,” he said. - George Matlala and Moffet Mofokeng