Terror threat this and terror threat that, we’ve all heard about the warnings doing the rounds.

The US have given us warning (HERE), as have Britain (HERE) and Australia (HERE) – so just how worried should we be then?

Well despite government assurances that the country is safe, State Security Minister David Mahlobo saying that South Africa remained “a strong and stable democratic country”, some analysts believe that a terrorist attack on our shores is feasible.

So what are the reasons these analysts cite then? Over to IOL for reason number one:

…economic hardships could be a catalyst for radicalising South Africa’s Muslims.

Economic growth is seen below one percent this year and unemployment is at its highest ever, near 27 percent.

“Both in terms of sources of financing from older religious conservative generations and of a growing community of economically side-lined, mostly young Muslims,” Robert Besseling, head of the EXX Africa business risk intelligence group said in a note.

Turns out reason number two is pretty straightforward – we aren’t prepared:

Jasmine Opperman, the Africa Director for Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC) said if Islamist extremist groups ever do decide to target South Africa, the nation is unprepared to protect itself.

“Shopping malls and tourist destinations are areas that are particularly prone to terror attacks,” Opperman wrote in a note.

“In South Africa, security is usually outsourced to private security companies, primarily aimed at preventing petty crimes such as theft,” she said.

Personally I think reason number one is bollocks, but I’m not head of a risk intelligence group so what do I know.

I guess the crux of the matter is that we can’t live in fear or else we have lost the battle already, so let’s just hope adequate security measures are put in place to ensure we can stop genuine terror threats from occurring.

[source:iol]