CHAPTER 4: Disasters, Crises and Risks in Durban
4.7 Terrorism 121
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from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). The factors enumerated above have a negative bearing on the economic sectors such as mining, tourism, manufacturing, innovation and the like.
South Africa’s 2016 crime and safety report maintained that violent and disruptive labour strikes occur frequently in South Africa. It points out that Gauteng is the epicentre of more labour unrest than other provinces. The protests involve disruptions along traffic routes between Johannesburg and Pretoria (coloquially termed a ‘go-slow’). They affect mining, farming, retail, civil service, public transportation, private trucking, and manufacturing industries. The report (2016) expounded that unlicensed protests usually lead to deaths, injuries, assaults, and massive damage to property, and cautions people to avoid them.
KwaZulu-Natal is also a frequent host to African National Congress’ (ANC) political rallies, and big gatherings. This carries with it an implication of public disruptions in the city centre and the areas around the Durban City Hall (ibid.: 2016).
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Croucamp et al. (2014) argue that globally terrorist attacks surely have an adverse impact on tourism, maintaining that, more often than not, it is the frequency rather than the severity of the terrorist act which impacts on the tourists’ decisions to visit that specific area. Croucamp et al. further points that since the advent of the 1994 democratic dispensation in South Africa, terrorist acts have mainly been criminal-driven. The main perpetrators are the Muslim fundamentalist groups, as well as the minority white, right-wing groups (ibid. 2014).
Over and above this, Croucamp et al. (2014) highlight the fact that South Africa has never ever experienced international terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, he argues that the risk for these attacks is massive, and backs up the argument with the following remarks: the suspected al-Shabaab agent, Samantha Lethwaite (the notorious “White Widow”), carried out the September 2013 shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, and was suspected to have stayed in South Africa (Johannesburg) for more than two years. She was alleged to have entered Kenya using a fraudulent South African passport. The growing presence of al-Shabaab in the country continues to inform critical media reports, which indicate that terrorist attacks ought to remain a matter of concern (ibid.2014) and not be ignored, because the country is seen as a safe haven for terrorists to operate incognito.
Most experts are of the opinion that the world can be divided into safe, and unsafe areas. South Africa is by no means an exception – especially if the current volatile socio-economic and political climate is brought under the spotlight. The following remarks of Gambari (2004) captures this fear of imminent terrorism, and lends credence to the argument raised above by Croucamp et al (2014), in this way:
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“We must also recognise the fact that the terrorist networks find it easier to breed and prosper where organised crimes reign, where political and administrative machinery and state institutions are weak or malfunctioning, where ideology and religious fanatism have replaced reason and morality and where despair has destroyed as sense of purpose”.
Terrorism is not a new threat. Many parts of the world including South Africa have experienced it even before 1994. The presentation by Malgas (2006:1), Counsellor, South African Mission to the UN Symposium on Africa’s Response to Terrorism which was held in New York in 2006, illuminates this point in this way:
“Various parts of the world have experienced terrorism for decades – be they state sponsored or otherwise. To take my country, South Africa, as an example:
We waged a long and difficult struggle for many decades – starting off with peaceful resistance that later escalated into violent conflict. The apartheid state used terrorism to counter the liberation movements through bombings and assassinations”.
Malgas (2006) further emphasises the fact that certain parts of South Africa have experienced urban terrorism in the past. However, this was successfully quashed through a good counter- terrorism strategy. The author further brings to the fore the significant factors for the proliferation of terrorism in the African continent, and by extension, in South Africa, as: firstly, globalisation; secondly, the growth and advancement in Inter Communication Technology (ICT); thirdly; the free movement of people across the borders; fourth, the easy flow of money across jurisdictions; and fifth, porous borders. Yousfi (2006) and Adekanye (2006) adds
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another dimension in relation to some factors which lead to terrorism, and they are enumerated as: the geographical position of the African continent that leaves it prone to the international terrorist organisations; weak security; internal conflicts; the proliferation of significant quantities of weapons; poverty, which enables Al-Qaida to easily recruit extremists from amongst African destitute youth; and Africa’s appraisal as a tourist destination by many nations spur the terrorists on to target people (tourists) to gain maximum media publicity. Other predisposing factors include an acute lack of infrastructure, and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS (Adekanye, 2006). A vacuum resulting from ‘political collapse’ might also lead to vulnerability to terrorist attacks (Africa-America Institute, 2006). According to Oche (2014) terrorism stems from religious encumbrances; conflicts of power struggles.