‘Poor security lets police down’

KING Goodwill Zwelithini says state intelligence agencies are dysfunctional, which is why the police cannot deal with violent land invasions.

He said government offices would not have been attacked and petrol-bombed in Durban on Wednesday if the government intelligence unit had been active.

Addressing amakhosi yesterday at the official opening of the KwaZuluNatal House of Traditional Leaders in the old provincial legislature in Ulundi, the king expressed outrage at the R17million damage to the provincial offices of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in Cato Manor.

“Where is the intelligence today when government facilities get gutted? State intelligence is no more and this means South Africa is not safe,” King Zwelithini said.

Co-operative Governance spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said the incident had happened at about midnight.

The king said the police should not be blamed because it was hard for them to do their work without state intelligence.

“We don’t need the violence that is spreading throughout our land. We cannot live with violence forever,” he said.

King Zwelithini said the Zulu nation, which had suffered in the colonial and apartheid eras, was suffering even more so under the current political leadership.

“As we celebrate 25 years of democracy, I ask myself if there has been any change.”

He said politicians were confused about the land issue and unable to make a decision on it.

Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the provincial government would implement President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pledge to give the amakhosi a greater role to play in affairs of state.