If police minister Senzo Mchunu's assessment and conclusion is taken as gospel truth, then foreign nationals were being trained in a military camp set up near White River in Mpumalanga.
Mchunu described the camp, which was raided by police on Friday and where 95 Libyans were arrested, as “basically and fundamentally military”.
“All indications point to this being more of a military training centre than a security centre,” the Mchunu said.
The academy's website interestingly claims it specialises in “military training-style learning programmes and accredited qualifications such as specialist operative and other training in South Africa”.
During Friday's raid, the Libyans were found housed in military tents with military training equipment, including licensed firearms. Police also found dagga and cocaine. It is believed the Libyans entered South Africa on study permits in April.
The question we are asking is: where were the country's intelligence services? And why was this not picked up earlier?
If these Libyan nationals have been here since April — three months ago — and were engaged in an unlawful military training, why was this not picked up much earlier?
The SABC reported at the weekend that the Libyans will be deported for being in the country illegally after they arrived in April on study visas claiming to be here for educational purposes.
We are calling for a thorough investigation to reveal what the camp was all about and who was behind it. More importantly, why has taken this long for the country's law enforcement entities to discover it after the majority of the Libyans had been in the country for about three months.
Why was this not picked up by home affairs immigration officials and which South African institutions made it possible for almost 100 foreign nationals to get into the country for “study” purposes?
Perhaps what's more telling is why these Libyans from North Africa opted to traverse the entire continent to the southernmost country of Africa for the operation which was uncovered on Friday.
We believe that this is a matter of huge concern as it is a possible state security threat which further exposes the country's inability or lack of capacity when it comes to intelligence services.
It seems we are yet to learn from the crippling July 2021 unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, where 350 people lost their lives.
The unrest cost the economy about R50bn, with a further 2-million jobs being lost or affected.
It's time that all intelligence services, whether police, military or the state security department, apply some introspection and look into their shortcomings which are exposing the country to state security threats.
We hope President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mchunu ensure that this recentlydiscovered military training camp is investigated and that we get to to the bottom of the issue.
Though the camp has been ordered to shut down operations, we believe that is not enough in ensuring that similar camps don't spring up elsewhere.
“While this facility is legal in terms of Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) processes, on further scrutiny it has been found that what is happening here is not in accordance or compliant with the application. There is a gap between what was applied for and what was taking place,” Mchunu said.
PSIRA confirmed that Milites Dei, which ran the camp, was registered in 2017 and had been accredited since January 2019.
Spokesperson Azwifaneli Tshisikamulilo said the academy had submitted course reports for grades E, D and C of security training, the last of which was submitted in 2021. We ask why is this the case?
State security is a matter of national importance and should not be relegated to a desk somewhere in the president's office, as such discoveries are further proof that we need to up the ante when it comes to well-funded and capacitated intelligence services for the benefit of all citizens.
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