President Cyril Ramaphosa asserts that the South African government should provide the greatest information to its citizens on problems of national security.
The President stated that it was unfortunate that the United States issued a terror alert without consulting the South African authorities on Wednesday.
“It was rather regrettable that the U.S. administration issued such a warning without engaging in extensive… dialogue with us.”
“Thereafter, we were in a position to engage them and determine where this warning or this information originated. We are in the process of doing so, as such warnings cause widespread terror among our people, and the South African government should be the finest source of information for its citizens, as stated by the President.
Thursday at the Union Buildings, President Ramaphosa addressed the media following bilateral meetings with his Spanish counterpart, President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón.
He stated that the administration is examining and verifying the communication from the United States around the clock.
As they get better at securing our people, our agencies are vigilant and closely monitoring this type of threat, and they will continue to do so. The government of the Republic of South Africa will issue any sort of notice.”
Earlier in the day, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Dr. Naledi Pandor urged the international community to work together to confront terrorism.
She stated that the government was concerned by the US Embassy’s warning of a possible attack in the broader Sandton area this weekend.
“Terrorism is always a major menace against which the international community must collaborate. In light of the warning issued by the U.S. embassy, we are quite concerned about terrorism. Clearly, our security agencies are monitoring this situation.
“All nations must work together to confront terrorism. It is exacting a horrible toll on the Sahal region, and I believe that we must do whatever we can to unite our security capacities against terrorists.”
The US embassy in Sandton, South Africa, issued a warning on its website on Wednesday after receiving information that terrorists may be plotting an attack targeting large crowds of people at an unidentified place in the wider Sandton area.