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It’s Wednesday morning, and South Africa prepares for another day of horrific scenes playing out across the country.

You’ve seen the footage, beamed into our homes in real-time by news channels, as looting and destruction continues to kick our people while they’re down.

Meanwhile, the likes of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and other supporters of jailed former president Jacob Zuma sow the seeds of hate and division online, sitting far removed from the real-life repercussions of their actions.

It would be easy to blame Duduzile and her father for what we’re witnessing, and they do shoulder a large burden of responsibility, but there are also forces operating in the shadows that are driving the unrest.

One such person is the former head of the State Security Agency’s (SSA) rogue special operations unit, Thulani Dlomo, who is now a prime suspect being investigated for fomenting the violence in KwaZulu-Natal.

In 2019, Dlomo was fired from the SSA as corruption allegations against him began to stack up.

News24, via information confirmed by three independent and highly placed sources, says intelligence officials are on the case:

The former spook and ambassador to Japan is known to be fiercely loyal to Zuma and is said to be at the centre of orchestrating pro-Zuma unrest that has descended into violent looting across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

In January, the Zondo Commission heard that Dlomo’s unit effectively operated as Zuma’s private militia, “was a law unto itself and directly served the political interests of the executive.”

“…Dlomo [above] has his fingers all over it. The farm [headquarters of the SSA] has processed information that points to him being at the centre of all of this unrest,” an impeccable source told News24.

Dlomo’s location has not been revealed, and he has repeatedly eluded intelligence officials, who have been trying to track him down since he was ousted from the SSA.

What has become clear is that at least some of initial unrest in KwaZulu-Natal was orchestrated, with witnesses reporting seeing people being dropped off at specific locations, in bakkies packed with tyres.

Police Minister Bheki Cele, who must surely beat out some stiff competition as one of the country’s least competent ministers, told media yesterday that police have a list of “12 South Africans” who have been inciting violence:

Great, now get in there and make some arrests.

State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo also went on the record to say that intelligence services “had our finger on the pulse [and] were on top of things from the onset.”

Really?

This from EWN:

Dlodlo said they were working around the clock to feed police with information to act swiftly: “Because of the proactive stance that was taken by both intelligence services of the three ministries, but also the work that has been done by the police in averting greater crime that could have occurred in that time. I want South Africans to be rest assured that we did avert a lot.”

Yes, rest assured, citizens, things could have been worse.

The disconnect is staggering.

Back to Dlomo:

…well-placed sources said he still maintained a parallel intelligence structure loyal to Zuma. Hundreds of millions of rands from SSA’s budget was spent on funding his rogue unit, buying vehicles and paying operators who were not officially on the SSA’s books. According to intelligence insiders, it was possible that many of these assets were still working under Dlomo.

A review of the unit Dlomo led said it served “the personal political interests of the sitting president of the party”.

Party over country, time and time again.

If you’re so inclined, you can follow News24’s live #UnrestSA feed here.

[sources:news24&ewn]