The ANC Luthuli House boss Fikile Mbalula has condemned the country’s security cluster for dropping the ball on fugitive Thabo Bester, referring to the escape as “embarrassing”.
Mbalula was briefing the media at the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg on Thursday.
“The security cluster matter is an embarrassment for the security of the country that a criminal can fake their death and do all these things,” charged the ANC secretary-general.
“These things we see in movies. The question is, do we have the capacity to recover from that? We must instill confidence that our security forces are able to deal with such lapses in the security of the country.”
According to Mbalula, for such a “security lapse” to happen as in the case of Bester was “threatening” and calls for extraordinary measures to tighten the screws.
Mbalula was the sole ANC national official who expressed concern after the recent cabinet reshuffle over the lack of changes in the security cluster ministries.
At the time, Mbalula admitted that there were “serious challenges” in the cluster that needed priority attention.
“We believe that the security cluster is faced with a mammoth task. The authority of the state is being eroded on a daily basis,” said Mbalula earlier in March.
“The concerns we have on the security cluster are to get our comrades [ministers] to be focused and be strategic in addressing the concerns we have.
“It cannot be that there is no rule of law in the country such that everybody is doing as they wish.”
Mbalula hinted that the ANC would put pressure on the president to shake up the cluster after next year’s national and provincial elections.
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