The competence of crime intelligence and security forces has again come under scrutiny amid rumours Massmart stores in KwaZulu-Natal will be targeted for looting at the weekend.
Unverified messages circulating on social media this week claimed there will be civil unrest in some locations on Sunday.
In a letter, which TimesLIVE has in its possession, KwaZulu-Natal crime intelligence head Tso Tshika tasked his members with verifying the claims, saying it had created “panic” among Massmart directors.
Massmart stores include Game, Builders Warehouse, Builders Express, Makro, Rhino, Jumbo Cash and Carry and Cambridge.
It is understood plans have been put in place to prevent unrest, should the rumours prove to be true.
The claims come as community leaders from Soweto and Alexandra in Gauteng told the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Johannesburg the military was nowhere to be seen during the height of looting and unrest in July last year.
“We have the barracks [just outside Soweto], but we did not see soldiers there. They came two or three days afterwards, only when it was quiet,” said Tshidi Madisakoane from the Baduli Bahlali non-profit organisation in Soweto.
Benjamin Chisare, a community leader from Alexandra, said: “The military was deployed [to Alexandra] three days after [the start of the looting]. The military presence was there to implement oppression. We had to be locked up in our homes. It frustrated us.”
“It was a bad scene looking at men in blue [police] standing there while they witnessed crime being committed in front of them,” said Themba Makhubela from Baduli Bahlali.
He said it appeared as if police were given an instruction to stand down.
“They would park their van and observe. As a leader [I believed] police must act without fear or favour, but we felt powerless,” he said.
Former state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo told the SAHRC earlier this week that government was forewarned as early as December 2020 about the unrest.
“We knew what we were facing. I don’t think anybody can say they didn’t know that at some point, things would boil over. We did talk about the issue of the rule of law, the lawlessness, we spoke about issues that could give rise to politically motivated unrest,” she said.
She rubbished police minister Bheki Cele’s claims that her office provided no intelligence before and during the looting.
Cele said he would not take personal responsibility for police failings during the unrest.
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