Bloemfontein - Last week the Hefer commission heard vociferous arguments about the sanctity of intelligence documents, with dire threats about what would happen if anything was revealed.

But yesterday the submissions of both former transport minister Mac Maharaj and former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) employee Mo Shaik included pages of documents marked "secret".

Yet Shaik has says he has no fear of being prosecuted on this basis because the NIA will have to prove that they are classified documents.

It seems the NIA is caught in a neat tautology. It has strenuously asserted the need to keep all documents secret, to the extent that the agency's director-general, Vusi Mavimbela, has written to past and present members to lay down the law.

He wrote to all serving and former NIA members last month saying the Intelligence Services Act "required the director-general of the agency to protect certain information from unauthorised disclosure and prohibit former members from disclosing certain information which they obtained and has come to their knowledge by virtue of their employment".

"Should anyone be approached to consult or give information relating to the intelligence services, he or she must communicate with the directorgeneral before taking any steps."

But if "secret" documents are revealed, pressing charges against the disseminator necessarily involves confirming and proving that they are valid.

As the agency is dead set against doing so, or providing any information to the commission, Shaik suspects that it will be impossible for the agency to bring charges against him.

With acknowledgements to Tim Cohen and the Business Day.