The legacy of apartheid and South Africa’s struggle to contain contemporary forms of terrorism and violent extremism*

Since 2002, South Africa has not experienced a major terrorist attack. The country, however, remains in a state of alert and consternation. Recent criminal and terrorist activities, notably the spate of kidnappings, ¹ incidences involving explosives, ² foiled terrorist attacks, ³ violent attacks at mosques, ⁴ and recruitment of some South Africans into the Islamic State’s caliphate, ⁵ as well as the alleged presence of terrorist cells in the country, ⁶ have exposed South Africa’s vulnerability to the current global threat of terrorism and violent extremism. A series of warnings by foreign governments ⁷ about potential terrorist attacks in South Africa have 190generated a great deal of debate and, to some extent, panic among South Africans, many of whom have cast doubt about the capability of the South African government to deal with a potential terrorist threat. To some extent, the public, influenced by a stream of misleading media reports, and insufficient communication from government, has shown little or limited knowledge about South Africa’s counterterrorism measures and the institutions of government that work tirelessly to avert the threat. The principal objective of this chapter is to fill this information void. It seeks to investigate and evaluate the measures taken by government and the current framework for countering terrorism and violent extremism in South Africa. Of foremost importance is the need to understand how the South African government is organized internally to counter the prevailing threat of terrorism and violent extremism. In this context, this chapter is intended to identify and provide an overview of the systems, procedures and the governmental agencies responsible for the interception, investigation, prosecution, adjudication and policy coordination on matters relating to counterterrorism and the countering of violent extremism.