Opinion Piece by Andre Pienaar, co-founder of the Scorpions, and founder of C5 Capital.

The attack on the Jewish Community Centre – the Sampson Centre – opposite the Gardens Synagogue in Cape Town on 05 December with an improvised explosive device (IED) is a serious terrorist attack on all South Africans.

It should be seen as a threat to all South Africans that if left unchecked will lead to the loss of many innocent lives in South Africa in the future. The fact that the IED did not detonate on this occasion does not diminish the seriousness of the terrorist threat.

A similar device did detonate in Melbourne, Australia on the same day. The attack burned one of the oldest places of worship in that city to the ground. Families had to flee for their lives and safety. 

The attack on the Sampson Centre is the beginning of an orchestrated campaign to spread fear in South Africa. It is an attempt to target and isolate the Jewish community through terror from the rest of the nation. 

The definition of a terrorist threat is hostile intent plus capability plus opportunity. The perpetrators have shown they have hostile intent and opportunity. The terrorists will now refine their capability and will strike again. 

There is still time to act to prevent further attacks from happening. The Government of National Unity (GNU) needs to speak up and act to protect South Africa as a constitutional democracy. This demands urgent and unequivocal condemnation of the terrorism by South Africa’s leaders at a local, regional and national level. Community leaders and business leaders also need to make their outrage and voices heard.

It is encouraging that the SAPS Bomb disposal unit was quick to the scene on the discovery of the device and that the docket has been referred to the Hawks for investigation. The Hawks now need to issue a statement, like the Australian Police did after the Melbourne attack, declaring this to be clearly a terrorist attack that will be investigated by a national task team.  

I was an eyewitness to the terrible suffering that the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), a terrorist organisation linked to Al Qaeda, inflicted on South Africans from 1996 to 2000. PAGAD was responsible for more than a 189 bombings along with kidnappings and assassinations across the country over a period of five years.

Just a few weeks ago on 28 November, was the 25^th anniversary of the bombing of the St Elmo’s pizzeria in Camps Bay, Cape Town by PAGAD. On the night of 28 November 1999, 43 innocent people were severely injured in a terrorist attack that involved PAGAD operatives throwing an IED into a busy pizzeria. The attack on St Elmo’s was preceded by PAGAD’s bombing of Planet Hollywood on 25 August 1998. In this attack an IED killed two people and permanently maimed several others including a 12 year old girl who was visiting the country from the UK.

Combating this murderous terror campaign was part of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki’s motivation for the launch of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), or Scorpions, that I helped to create in 1999. I met with Mandela shortly after he visited the victims of the bombing in hospital. Mandela was moved to tears by their plight and angry at the terrorists. 

Defeating PAGAD’s terrorism was the first test of fire for the Scorpions. Mark Shaw tells the story brilliantly in his book “Breaking the Bombers: How the Hunt for PAGAD Created a Crack Police Unit”. Through bold action, innovation at every level from intelligence collection to prosecution and witness protection, and most importantly, courageous leadership first by Mandela and then Mbeki, South Africans came together to defeat PAGAD’s terrorism by 2001 to protect a young vibrant democracy. 

International cooperation with law enforcement from other democracies was a critical part of the success of the defeat of PAGAD. The DSO tracked and arrested Khalfan Kamis Mohamed, one of the Al Qaeda bombers of the US embassy in Tanzania that was hiding out in Cape Town under PAGAD’s protection on 05 October 1999. The NPA extradited Khalfan Kamis to the United States where he stood trial for terrorism and he was convicted under the rule of law.

To ensure that South Africa never has to suffer the scourge of vicious terrorism again, the DSO and the NPA worked together closely with Parliament to pass one of the most comprehensive and cutting edge counter-terrorist laws in the world in 2004 – The Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (POCDATARA 2004). The purpose of POCDATARA is to prevent terrorism and to protect all South Africa’s citizens from becoming victims of terrorism. The Act provides South Africa with a sophisticated and comprehensive legal framework to prevent, investigate, and prosecute terrorism that is world class. 

The preamble of POCDATARA confirms that South Africa is a Constitutional Democracy where fundamental human rights such as the right to life are constitutionally enshrined for all her citizens. 

The cowardly bomb attack on the Sampson Centre clearly falls under the ambit of this Act. POCDATARA defines terrorism as any violent or unconstitutional activity aimed at achieving political or other goals and undermining democratic rights and values. It also enables the authorities to prosecute those who enable terrorists through training, logistics and financing.  POCDATARA confirms that terrorism can only be defeated through international cooperation.

The attack in Cape Town has to be seen against the backdrop of an escalating war in the Middle East and a severe deterioration of the terrorist threat environment across Africa. There is a proliferation of resurgent political Islamist terrorist groups from Al-Qaeda in the Sahel to ISIS on South Africa’s door step in Mozambique to terrorist attacks sponsored by Quds Force Unit 400, the terrorist arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).  

Democracies across Africa are struggling to combat terrorism, because of a failure of leadership. According to the Global Terrorism Index, 60% of all terrorism related deaths occurred in recent years in Africa. The US and France have experienced the breakdown of important counterterrorism alliances with countries like Chad and Mali. In several countries democrats have been replaced by military juntas as a result of the terrorist threat. In desperation, the Russian Wagner Group, or its successor the Africa Corps, have been contracted by African governments at great costs to their treasuries and people to attempt to fight the terrorists, but without any success to date. There have been too few prosecutions under POCDATARA. 

South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) must recognise this potentially deadly terrorist threat that came to Cape Town at the start of a busy holiday season and to South Africa. Only decisive action will deter the terrorists. The leaders in the GNU and the Western Cape Government need to condemn this attack in clear and unequivocal terms. The attack requires an immediate and determined investigative response from the authorities to prevent further attacks on innocent people and the loss of life. It requires cooperation across the law enforcement agencies and intelligence community, with all South African communities and working with international partners. 

The GNU needs to establish a Terrorist Threat Register to keep South Africans informed about the nature and level of this growing threat. The United Kingdom operates a Terrorist Threat Register that ranges from LOW to CRITICAL. At the CRITICAL level the threat is the highest and “an attack is highly likely in the near future”. 

Based on the available intelligence about the recent attack in Cape Town, CRITICAL would be my assessment of the current threat level in South Africa. The terrorists who bombed the Sampson Centre are highly likely to strike again in the near future.  

South Africans defeated several terrorist threats in the past including PAGAD. With bold leadership the country can do so again and save many lives and prevent terrible suffering.