STRAIGHT TALK
Outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned. When he wrote these lyrics for the musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda could have been describing the state of South Africa’s security system in the week after 9 July when members of the ANC’s radical economic transformation faction unleashed their plan to shut down KZN.
SAPS failed utterly to protect people and property. Police presence was almost non-existent in the first few days. Citizens were left to fend for themselves or watch property and jobs go up in flame. When resources were finally mustered, there were not enough officers, not enough leadership, not enough equipment and not enough coordination.
Our security services either didn’t know or didn’t care.
The people of South Africa have a right to know what went wrong and who is responsible for this catastrophic failure of intelligence. It comes down to three simple questions: Who knew about it? When did they know? What did they do about it?
Did police minister Bheki Cele receive intelligence reports as claimed by state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo and denied by him? If so, when did he receive them and what did he do about it? Did President Ramaphosa and Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula receive the reports? If so, when, and what did they do about it?