Intelligence gathered by police backs Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni’s claims of an alleged coup d’état plot, starting with the destabilisation of law enforcement.
The intelligence revealed – including the arrest of national police commissioner Fannie Masemola – with the aim to topple President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Sunday World understands that the warrant for Masemola’s arrest has been ready for more than six weeks, and that Ramaphosa has been warned about it.
It is alleged that Masemola irregularly appointed Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo as the head of crime intelligence. Khumalo was arrested a few weeks ago on charges of fraud and corruption relating to the appointment of an unqualified civilian to a senior post.
“His appointment as head of the police’s crime intelligence division was facilitated through a Section 45 process,” said a highly placed police source, which provided for Masemola to make a motivation to the minister.
“Under such circumstances, the post is not advertised and the appointment is made internally,” the source added.
According to analysis by police spooks, the arrest of Khumalo was the first in a chain of planned arrests of top officials that would culminate in Ramaphosa going down for his 2020 Phala Phala scandal when hundreds of thousands of US dollars stashed in a couch at his Limpopo farm were stolen.
After Masemola, said a source, the next in line was going to be chief of the army Gen Rudzani Maphwanya, whose alleged offence was not disclosed. “Thereafter, Ramaphosa would be the next target.”
Earlier this month, Ntsha-vheni told the media that the country was secure and that the security cluster remained solid. She said the government had identified the threat of a coup but emphasised that no such attempt had materialised.
She made the remarks during a media briefing in Cape Town on Tuesday, where she released the redacted version of the National Security Strategy and the National Intelligence Estimate for the sixth administration.
“We have listed the risks, and remember, a risk does not necessarily materialise… You need to identify it and mitigate against it. One of the risks is the risk of coup d’état. We have identified it and put measures in place to mitigate against it.
“That’s why we say to South Africans there’s not been anyone attempting to do a coup in South Africa. Not that there are no people planning; they are, but we are monitoring them and making sure that we deal with them. There are men and women who continue to work as
patriots for the protection of this country, and there are men and women in the intelligence services or intelligence community who continue to work to make sure this country is safe.” she said
