Vosloorus police said on Monday they knew nothing about a man who claimed his group of disgruntled unemployed people were behind a spate of countrywide ATM bombings.
The Sowetan newspaper reported on Monday that Plaatjie Mashego, said to be a former Umkhonto weSizwe operative, had claimed responsibility for recent ATM blasts across the country.
He said his organisation, the Malamulela Social Movement of the Unemployed, had resorted to targeting ATMs last year after efforts to speak to the government and the business sector were ignored.
He said the aim was ”not really to collect money” but to destabilise the business sector.
He said members of his organisation were trained to make explosives which they used to blow up ATMs to make their point against the high levels of unemployment.
Mashego told the newspaper they had decided to make themselves known because the organisation was concerned that untrained people had copied their strategy and were injuring themselves.
”We are urging those people to rather come and join forces with us,” he said. – Sapa