Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Deputy President Jacob Zuma has called on the intelligence community to come up with a definition of terrorism, saying they were better placed to accomplish such an act as the term was 'an area of debate internationally.'

Speaking during the launch of the South African National Academy of Intelligence in Mafikeng on Friday, Mr Zuma said the intelligence community ought to 'define more appropriately what terrorism was.

'More than ten years ago we were referred to as terrorists...I don't think the world has agreed on this issue,' he explained.

He added that there was a reliance on other countries when it came to a definition of the term.

On the academy, the Deputy President said it was an important part of government because 'given the kind of world we live in and the security challenges we face, we definitely need a high-class intelligence service in our country.

'In this regard I am specifically thinking of terrorism and other forms of violent extremism where intelligence has the obligation to collect information in a covert way.'

The academy, which was renamed after the late ANC stalwart Mzwandile Piliso, will take 50 students at a time including some of its staffers. Mr Piliso died in 1996 at the age of 72.

Previously called Khupe Campus, Intelligence minister Lindiwe Sisulu closed the previous academy two years ago, to allow for restructuring and refocusing of the intelligence department's training responsibility.

Late last year, the SANAI was established as a public entity to provide training to members of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the South African Secret Service and related structures such as the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC) and the Presidential Support Unit.

Training on national strategic intelligence will also be provided to the intelligence components of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The academy comprises a vocational and a research component and plans are underway to develop the structure into an institution of higher learning.