Why SA’s state security is at risk

It was extraordinary that the American embassy in South Africa issued a warning this week that there was the possibility of a terrorist attack somewhere in the Sandton area this weekend.

Normally, when American intelligence or diplomatic services become aware of threats to their personnel, internal security warnings are issued.

The fact that this was published could indicate that the Americans tried to take up the issue with their South African counterparts and failed – but are still concerned enough to go public to prevent possible loss of life.

This could well be the case, judging from the dismissive and slightly angry reaction from Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, who tried to play down the threat by saying “this alarm has been going on but up to this point, it is not backed up by any evidence”.

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So, minister, you’re saying the country which probably spends the most on the planet on intelligence services – because it faces the biggest threats – doesn’t know what it’s doing. Either that, or they want to discredit our government.

So, let’s take a look at the track record of our intelligence services over the past decade in the areas of both crime and threats to national security.

Crime is spiralling and last year’s insurrection in KwaZulu-Natal and elsewhere came as a shock to the government. The reason for that is simple: our country’s intelligence services have been used – and probably still are being used – to fight the factional battles of the ANC.

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A classic case is that of Arthur Fraser, former head of the State Security Agency. Not only did he release Jacob Zuma on parole in the absence of a proper medical reason, he is the man driving the Phala Phala narrative. Our intelligence services must be purged of such people, because our state security is at risk.