Former energy deputy minister Thembisile Majola appointed SSA Director-General | News24

Pictured in Thembisile Majola, center, 2019.

• The state security agency finally has a permanent director general after Arthur Fraser left in 2018.
• President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed former Deputy Energy Minister Thembisil Majola to head the troubled spy agency.
• The Presidency said this was part of Ramaphosa’s commitment to fill vacancies in the security cluster.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally appointed a permanent director general of the State Security Agency (SSA).

Thembisil Majola, former deputy energy minister and ambassador, will take over the troubled spy agency with effect from March 1.

In a statement on Monday evening, the President said the appointment of the permanent chief of the SSA follows President Ramaphosa’s undertaking in the State of the Nation to fill critical vacancies in the country’s security services.

The presidency said she would head the agency for a period of three years.

Majola resigned from the executive in 2018 citing family reasons.

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President Ramaphosa said: “The appointment of Thembi Majola to this position is an important part of our work to stabilize the country’s intelligence services. His extensive experience in government, international relations and security will position him well to lead reform and reconstruction. Establishes from. of the State Security Agency.”

Majola served as the former Deputy Minister of Energy and was South Africa’s ambassador to Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, The Gambia and Guinea Bissau.

“She has served in several positions in the Presidency and was deputy coordinator on the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (NICOC). She was an observer on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa for the tripartite talks on the Grand Renaissance Dam during South Africa’s term in Africa in 2020. Union,” said the President.

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“His appointment is expected to give further impetus to the implementation of the report of the SSA High Level Review Panel and the recommendations of the Expert Panel in the turbulence of July 2021,” he said.

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