Terror right on our doorstep
THE attack at a mosque in Verulam, north of Durban last Thursday has brought home the cold reality that terrorist attacks can happen anywhere – even on our doorstep.
While we have become accustomed to seeing terrorist attacks happening in Middle East countries, central Africa and some parts of Asia, this gave us a false sense of insulation and to an extent safety.
We had forgotten that just three years ago our law-enforcement agencies had intercepted a 15-year-old Cape Town girl who had boarded a plane, bound for the Middle East, to join notorious terrorist organisation Islamic State (Isis).
For a while now, it has been public knowledge that terrorist groupings are actively recruiting in South Africa. So far the only known jihadist who is South African is a man who uses the nom de guerre Abu Hurayra al-Afriki. The latter – according to the Daily Maverick – is said to be in Syria, fighting for Isis and is using social networks to recruit other South Africans to join the network.
Also the so-called “white widow”, British citizen Samantha Lewthwaite spent time in Johannesburg and was travelling on a fake South African passport by the time her apartment was raided in Mombasa, Kenya. She had used the same documents to leave SA. Lewthwaite is a fugitive from justice in Kenya where she is wanted for a litany of terrorism-related charges. She is believed to be a member of al-Shabaab, the radical terrorist group operating from Somalia.
These examples, the latest being the Verulam attack, demonstrate that we are not safe from terrorist attacks in this country. While we need not be alarmist or create unnecessary panic about the extent of the risk, we have to be vigilant. On Sunday night an improvised bomb was found at the same Imam Hussain mosque in Verulam. Fortunately bomb experts deactivated the device and removed it.
This was the mosque where three men were killed in a knife attack by three attackers on Thursday. The targeted attack was so gruesome that one of the victims, Abbas Essop had his throat slit. A library was also set alight.
Our intelligence services need to be on top of their game. While the incidents listed above are unrelated, they suggest a pattern of terrorist groupings either targeting South Africans or using local documents to travel.
This is what prompted the UK to end visa-free travel for South Africans in 2008. Visa requirements were introduced after the London bombings of July 2005.
Incidentally Lewthwaite’s husband Germaine Lindsay was one of the suicide bombers who masterminded the 7/7 London bombings which killed over 50 people.
If terrorist attacks can take place in Durban it means they can happen anywhere.
It is also worrisome that our law enforcement agencies were in the dark about the attack. This has been a trend lately where our intelligence services seem more interested in political machinations than doing their primary job of intelligence gathering.
The sooner President Cyril Ramaphosa cleans up South Africa’s intelligence services the better.