Mosque attack motive still a mystery

Questions around the motive for the attack at the Imam Hussain Mosque continued to build in the absence of clear answers as to who and why Abbas Essop was murdered and Ali Enchinaye and Mohammed Ali were stabbed.

In a media interview Enchinaye – since discharged, said what happened was a terrorist attack.

“There is no doubt about it and they definitely had a religious motive. These people were not robbers. They did not want phones, laptops, money, clothes; they strictly wanted to kill us. That’s what they wanted to do.

“One of the suspects told me this, this is what he said and I quote: ‘I will kill you.’ That’s what he said. He was going to kill me.”

Mishka Daries, spokesperson for the Muslim Judicial Council, said there was a lot of shock in the Muslim community that the crime had taken place within a sacred religious space.

“There are also a lot of rumours and accusations of extremist elements involved. We can’t say that, there’s too much speculation, and a lot of it is happening on social media and the police have not confirmed anything with us.”

Daries said she was aware a special task force had been allocated to the case as well as the Hawks but until the Council had had feedback, Daries couldn’t say what the motive for the crime was.

“We want to end it right there because by fuelling the claims it was extremists or a specific group is, for now, incorrect. Because what happens when it is not?” Daries asked.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said there had been no arrests yet and the Hawks were still combing the scene for clues. No motive for the attack had been established yet, Nhlongo said.

Jasmine Opperman, director at the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, said yesterday the organisation’s concern was that there had been no claim of credit – standard in terrorist attacks.

“If there’s going to be Isis involved, we will have a claim of credit. Usually with inspired attacks, a video is released before the attack is executed in which they pledge their allegiance to Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi, and this has also yet to surface.

“At this stage, we do not know who the perpetrators are, or what the actual motive is,” Opperman said.

“The Islamic State has been relying on amateur and unsophisticated attacks. It’s not only about mass killings but also of a few people that will feed its propaganda machine.

“So, it carries the hallmark of a terrorist attack, I cannot debate against that, but I do not have the facts at hand to state unequivocally this was the Islamic State.

Opperman noted there were also other divisions and feuds within communities that went beyond IS, and these needed to be taken into consideration.

The way people are responding to the incident and pointing fingers, upgrades to security, all the fear and uncertainty, was exactly the climate IS relied on to expand its footprint.

“I’m more worried about the responses now and how those will feed IS propaganda, which could redirect unwelcome attention to South Africa, which we don’t want,” Opperman said.

“I understand the emotional responses, that there is anger and the demand for an immediate response, but this is going to be a long process of investigation,” Opperman cautioned.

With Ramadan coming up, Daries said it was normally a month of spiritual connection to God, inner reflection, and introspection.

“It is also a look at how our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, how he lived his life, which is that of respect towards our fellow Muslims, people of other faiths, and towards humanity. We are asking for the community as a whole to use these days leading up to Ramadan to have those qualities right now, because we need it,” said Daries.

“We need the community to stay calm until we can resolve this issue.”