There are times when being alarmist and wrong is better than being complacent and right. The threat of a terrorist attack in Sandton tomorrow is one such occasion.
It is better to overreact and find that it was unnecessary than to be dismissive and pay the price .
We have no way of knowing whether the intelligence gathered by the Americans about what they said was an imminent attack at Africa’s richest square mile, has any merit. It is in the nature of intelligence work that we only get to know of intelligence failures and not the successes.
We only get to know about what the spy community failed to detect because we see the outcomes, sometimes spectacularly as was the case with the 9/11 attacks in New York.
It is also easy to see why the South African government would be embarrassed that such a threat, if indeed true, was uncovered by Americans. If there is indeed such egg on the collective face of our spook community and the government, this is no time for them to be vain. This is no time for the government to worry about being shown up by their counterparts.
This is not to say the Americans are flawless and could not possibly have ulterior motives for jumping the diplomatic gun and making the announcement of their findings.
We get that the state would prefer not to cause panic and alarm. But the government and the intelligence community need to be honest with themselves. Just last Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he would be sponsoring legislation that would kill off the internal state security apparatus as it is currently constituted.
That was in itself an admission that a lot is wrong with our intelligence community. It is now common cause they were caught flat-footed by the July 2021 unrests.
In short, like the president , we have good reason to not have complete trust in the local intelligence system. We would rather be overly careful even if it turns out the threat never was.
We need our government to reassure us that it has things under control. We need for it to be unequivocal that steps are in place to first ensure that no such threats get carried out or if they are, they can be mitigated.
SOWETAN | Best to err on the side of caution
This is no time for the government to worry about being shown up by their counterparts
Image: Thulani Mbele
There are times when being alarmist and wrong is better than being complacent and right. The threat of a terrorist attack in Sandton tomorrow is one such occasion.
It is better to overreact and find that it was unnecessary than to be dismissive and pay the price .
We have no way of knowing whether the intelligence gathered by the Americans about what they said was an imminent attack at Africa’s richest square mile, has any merit. It is in the nature of intelligence work that we only get to know of intelligence failures and not the successes.
We only get to know about what the spy community failed to detect because we see the outcomes, sometimes spectacularly as was the case with the 9/11 attacks in New York.
It is also easy to see why the South African government would be embarrassed that such a threat, if indeed true, was uncovered by Americans. If there is indeed such egg on the collective face of our spook community and the government, this is no time for them to be vain. This is no time for the government to worry about being shown up by their counterparts.
This is not to say the Americans are flawless and could not possibly have ulterior motives for jumping the diplomatic gun and making the announcement of their findings.
We get that the state would prefer not to cause panic and alarm. But the government and the intelligence community need to be honest with themselves. Just last Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he would be sponsoring legislation that would kill off the internal state security apparatus as it is currently constituted.
That was in itself an admission that a lot is wrong with our intelligence community. It is now common cause they were caught flat-footed by the July 2021 unrests.
In short, like the president , we have good reason to not have complete trust in the local intelligence system. We would rather be overly careful even if it turns out the threat never was.
We need our government to reassure us that it has things under control. We need for it to be unequivocal that steps are in place to first ensure that no such threats get carried out or if they are, they can be mitigated.
No evidence of Sandton terrorism threat, says SA government
Sandton terror threat: Ramaphosa says US jumped the gun
US warns of potential terrorist attack in Sandton
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