Blade Nzimande
2009 – present
A trail of all-too-convenient gremlins in government departments and facilities is forcing the divided ANC to reflect on a factional war in its ranks that may be compromising national security.
The disruption, infrastructure damage and cyber attacks of recent months is not going unnoticed.
The 2021 July riots were described as the worst political violence South Africa had seen in years. It was arguably the most telling sign yet of the level of orchestration and sophistication with which the attack on the administration is playing out against the backdrop of a population left vulnerable by the pandemic and economic desperation.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande told the party’s alliance partner the ANC that there were counter-revolutionary elements in its ranks when he addressed the party’s 110th birthday celebration in Polokwane, Limpopo.
“We smell a rat,” he said.
Nzimande was speaking less than 24 hours after the ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa had to be whisked away from the party’s gala dinner for funders when someone is believed to have deliberately cut the lights during his keynote address.
In the same week a fire ravaged parliament in Cape Town and a man went on a rampage at the constitutional court, breaking windows.
The intent behind the ongoing malaise remains up for speculation but is happening in the context of poor state intelligence services that have been destroyed by years of political interference.
There are, however, a number of examples that warrant suspicion owing to the consistency of their occurrences. Cyber attacks are among them.
In a report in March last year titled Critical Infrastructure Attacks: Why South Africa Should Worry, the Institute for Security Studies said. “There are deep concerns about the government and the State Security Agency in particular, meddling in cyber security matters.”
The ongoing sabotage at Eskom, to which various cabinet members and even the utility’s chief executive have alluded, remains unresolved and faceless. Meanwhile, theft and damage to electricity infrastructure in cities continues unabated in the form of cable theft, substation vandalism and the destruction of traffic lights.
The speed at which South Africa’s rail infrastructure has fallen victim to vandalism and theft is another issue that remains unresolved and faceless. In the transport sector, truck routes have been sabotaged on Africa’s most important logistical corridors on the N1, N3 and N4 routes over the last few years.
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