Riyaz Patel
Intelligence on the imminent xenophobic attacks was not acted on, the Johannesburg cluster of police crime intelligence has said, adding that the information was escalated to their superiors two days before the deadly violence flared up, City Press Reports.
“Yes, information was picked up late on Friday and was immediately relayed to the commander who is also saying that he had emailed relevant counterparts so they could act accordingly.”
Police crime intelligence cluster – Johannesburg
“The guys, including their crime intelligence cluster commander, are not happy that the information out there suggests that they did not do their work. Yes, information was picked up late on Friday and was immediately relayed to the commander who is also saying that he had emailed relevant counterparts so they could act accordingly,” a source within the cluster unit told the newspaper.
“It cannot be the unit’s problem that relevant units and resources were not readied for any kind of violent eruption. Ours is to gather information, pass it on so that appropriate action can be taken, lives be saved and properties be secured,” Johannesburg’s police crime intelligence cluster said.
Responding on the failure to act on the intelligence provided on the attacks, Police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said: “Intelligence is classified and privileged information which I am not prepared to discuss publicly. Whosoever provided you with such information is in contravention of the Intelligence Act.”
“Trouble was coming… How can police miss that?”
Meanwhile, an induna at a Johannesburg hostel told City Press that, together with leaders from other hostels, they were aware of the imminent violence and that there was no way the police could have missed such information.
Manyathela Mvelase, an induna at Wolhuter Hostel in Jeppestown, said as soon as he was made aware of the pamphlets pasted on hostel walls, he knew that “trouble was coming… How can police miss that?”
City Press said he showed them a copy of the flyer, attributed to the Sisonke People’s Forum, which urged hostel dwellers to join a shutdown aimed at “taking out” foreign nationals who were taking “our jobs” and to shut down drug dealers’ dens on 2 September.
“When you tell frustrated people to take back their country, you are calling for violence. Yes, the paper did not say go beat people [up] and loot, but behind the scenes there was a bigger mobilisation aimed at making the whole protest more impactful. Otherwise, people would not just wake up and decide to pounce on businesses, foreign-owned or not,” he said.
