Mobile phones belonging to South Africa’s intelligence minister Ayanda Dlodlo and her deputy, Zizi Kodwa, have been cloned.

High-profile investigators were looking into how the phones – and that of several other intelligence officials – had been cloned, the security ministry said.

Cloning involves the transferring of data from one mobile phone to another.

It was not unclear who was responsible or if any sensitive information had been compromised, the ministry said.

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Ms Dlodlo’s spokesman told the Reuters news agency that the cloning was discovered when several individuals received text messages purportedly from Mr Kodwa.

The embarrassing admission comes a few weeks after a break-in at the State Security Agency’s headquarters in the capital, Pretoria.

Robbers walked into a safe at the office and left with classified documents and an undisclosed amount of money in local and foreign currency, according to South Africa’s IOL news website.

In a security breach last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s emails relating to an election campaign were hacked and leaked.