State security minister says no real terror threat in SA

JORDAN MOSHE

She expressed these views in an exclusive interview with the SA Jewish Report last Friday about the country’s level of vulnerability to terrorism in light of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, which rocked the Jewish world recently. 

“We identify any threat to the country, and assess the risks associated with it,” said Letsatsi-Duba. “Our system is well-oiled. We use our resources to pick up whatever information we can on potential threats to our safety.

“We put measures in place all the time, though we have not experienced major terrorism issues here,” she said. “At the moment, there are no major threats to our country in terms of terrorism.” 

Letsatsi-Duba has been State Security Minister since February 2018, having served as deputy minister of public service and administration before that. Prior to her appointment to the national executive, she served on the ANC’s provincial executive committee in Limpopo as well as its provincial treasurer.

Her department informs the government about any potential threats to national stability, and the safety and wellbeing of our country, including terrorism, sabotage, espionage, and organised crime.

It carries out its mandate in conjunction with other government departments, operating in subject-specific clusters which include representatives of the departments in whose purview the matter at hand may fall.

According to the minister, while the global trend towards extremist behaviour is alarming, the depth of the problem differs from country to country. “Geopolitics is particularly complex,” she said. “Today, you see one thing, tomorrow another. The extent of the presence of extremism in South Africa needs to be gauged constantly. It’s only by being informed that we can craft a strategy that can be adjusted when the need arises.”

The minister stressed that her office was always alert to the possibility of terrorism, citing the existence of threats beyond our immediate borders such as pockets of terrorism in Mozambique.

In spite of reports in the media about the existence of extremist or terrorist training camps inside South Africa, Letsatsi-Duba maintains that there is no concrete evidence to support the theory. “We’ve had these reports from all over the world,” she said.

“All sorts of groups are telling us that there may be camps in our country that serve as training or transit camps. We’ve probed this, and combed the country, even scouring the deep rural areas. However, we have picked up no actual training of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) nor Hezbollah trainees is the country. As far as we know, it doesn’t exist.” 

Addressing the ongoing trial of the suspects accused of planting a bomb in a mosque in Verulam, the minister maintains that the incident is “isolated”, and is not in any way connected with ISIS or any other terrorist group.

“We follow up to ensure that there are no actual roots of terrorism in the country. Many people say we are used as a transit for attacks, but we haven’t picked up any evidence. The facts of the Verulam case are not yet confirmed, but we don’t believe it is tied to a larger terrorist threat.”

On the subject of private security companies, Dube believes they may hinder rather than help efforts to secure the country and make its citizens safer. “Private security in our country is a major concern,” she said. “In general, they address issues which are a threat to the state as a whole, meaning that they are working towards a common goal. We are looking at creating a more regular framework to manage them.

“We still need to discuss what they do, exactly. We know that some of them protect the Jewish community in particular, and we feel, as the state, that we have the capacity to address these security concerns ourselves. We strongly believe there is no need for private security. If everyone employed their own private security, the country would be in a state of chaos. This issue needs to be discussed, and regulations must be put in place.”

While her office has not ruled out the possibility that the incident in Pittsburgh could have consequences for Jews in South Africa, she doesn’t believe there is a particular threat in the country at present. “We are very concerned because we have a large Jewish community here,” she says. “If they are attacked, it is the state’s concern as they are our citizens. Measures are always in place to protect them. However, at this moment, we have no information about a particular threat to the Jewish community in our country.” 

However, Dube said the channels of communication between her office and the leadership of the Jewish community remained open. “We plan to have further meetings with Jewish leadership, and have agreed that a line of communication is always open. Our office is ready to address any specific issues. The relationship is one of comradeship, as issues of security are relevant to us all. We are in the same trenches fighting terrorism,” she said.