The South African Police Service (SAPS) has gone on high alert after receiving intelligence of planned armed raids on police stations, allegedly for the purpose of stealing weapons. (Photo by Dino Lloyd/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has gone on high alert after receiving intelligence of planned armed raids on police stations, allegedly for the purpose of stealing weapons. These alleged planned raids form part of a second wave of violent attacks by supporters of former president Jacob Zuma, who are angry about his incarceration earlier this month for contempt of court.
The SAPS top brass has sent out a warning to commanders in KwaZulu-Natal about plans to use members of the police service, the defence force and other security forces loyal to Zuma to assist the attackers in stealing firearms and other weapons.
Although the initial threat is understood to be limited to KwaZulu-Natal, police management is concerned that attackers may also target police stations and arsenals in other provinces.
Last week, the Mail & Guardian revealed that security forces were anticipating a second wave of attacks to follow on from the orchestrated arson and looting that has devastated KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng.
Among the anticipated targets were state buildings, the judiciary and police installations.
In a memorandum issued on Sunday, seen by the M&G, deputy national commissioner Lieutenant General Fannie Masemola told provincial and divisional commissioners — and Hawks head General Godfrey Lebeya — that the threat had been raised by the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (Nicoc) at a meeting of the Joint Operational Co-ordinating Committee (Joccom).
Joccom is the combined security forces and intelligence community co-ordinating forum, which meets daily to oversee the response to the attacks and to assess existing and new threats to security.
Masemola said Nicoc had “warned of the threat of possible attacks on police stations in the KwaZulu-Natal province to obtain firearms, ammunition and other weapons”.
He said a further threat identified was that the “instigators of the current violence and protest action may seek to collude with SAPS members and members of other security services, perceived to be sympathetic to their cause, to obtain firearms and other weapons”.
At this stage, Masemola said, the “identified threat is to KwaZulu-Natal province”, but there were concerns that it might spread to other provinces and to other SAPS facilities at which weapons are stored.
All commissioners with operational units or firearms-storage facilities were instructed to take the necessary security measures to ensure their arsenals were secured.
SAPS heads were requested to “take the necessary measures, as included in the police safety strategy, to [ensure] the safety of their facilities and safe storage and effective control over firearms, ammunition and other weapons that may be targeted by the organisers of protest action”.
Commissioners were also instructed to ensure that SAPS members were briefed about the threat in on- and off-duty briefings and be “urged to remain vigilant and operationally ready to combat the threat”.
“Police members must also be made aware of the seriousness of collusion with instigators of the protest action, which may result in criminal charges and departmental action,” Masemola added.
On Monday, during a virtual hearing in the Pietermaritzburg high court, where Zuma faces separate corruption charges stemming from the 1990s arms deal, #FeesMustFall activist Bonginkosi Khanyile made an appeal to police and soldiers who had secured the precinct to join the campaign pressing for the former president’s release.
A high-ranking police source, who has also seen Sunday memorandum, confirmed its authenticity to the M&G, saying it was part of what the publication reported last Friday as the planned second phase of violence.
“Yes, this is an authentic SAPS document. It speaks to what was announced by [President Cyril Ramaphosa] about attempts to destabilise the country’s constitutional democracy. I don’t know whether an operational plan has been devised yet to foil the attempted theft of police resources,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
SAPS national spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo did not immediately respond to requests for comment from M&G on Monday, and was also not reachable by phone.
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