Please find attached a soundbite by Natasha Mazzone MP.
A warning issued by the US Embassy yesterday relating to a possible terrorist attack in the Sandton region of Johannesburg must be taken very seriously.
Given the unprecedented nature of this sort of announcement, by a foreign embassy within our own borders, it brings into question the capability of South Africa’s own intelligence services under the ANC. To date, the reaction by the ANC Government has been worryingly indifferent and dismissive.
The DA calls on Mondli Gungubele, as the Minister who oversees State Security within the Presidency, to urgently make a public announcement informing our citizens that governments intends to treat this matter with the necessary seriousness and agency to allay fears and prevent panic.
Last year, after spectacular failures of State Security and intelligence in the attempted insurrection in KwaZulu-Natal, President Ramaphosa centralized and concentrated State Security power in his own office. Now is the first real public test of that decision.
It is an indictment on South Africa’s intelligence and state security establishment that a foreign government raised alarm on a possible terrorist threat in the country, and our own State Security apparatus, confirmed by the Presidential Spokesperson, seem to have been caught unaware and off guard.
This is a serious alert that was raised by the US Embassy and the South African government cannot brush it away through the dismissive statement that they issued yesterday.
People who live and do business in the Sandton area need to be given strong and visible assurance that the government is in control of the situation and their security is guaranteed.
It is our sincere hope, and our most profound wish that the threat proves to not come true. But national governments are required to stand up to national security threats, not dismiss them.