Government working hard to reduce threat of terror attacks

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

State Security Minister, Siyabonga Cwele, says the country's state security agencies are working hard to reduce the risk of terrorism on South African soil.

He was speaking on Sunday during a briefing by government's security cluster, where Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe, presented a comprehensive overview of the work of the three departments.

Minister Cwele said while terrorists groups will continue to try to come up with an element of surprise, they will be ready no matter what.

"At this stage we would like to give the detail, because we are continuning with investigations and we do not want to compromise the investigation. The final step is to take the suspects to court" he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Home Affairs says its continuing its investigation into the issuing of a passport to British terror suspect, Samantha Lewthwaite.

She had been living in the country after obtaining South African documentation.

Home Affairs Minister, Naledi Pandor, said that she would make further statements on the progress of the Lewthwaite investigation in due course.

"In the meantime we have improved on the security with respect to aquisition of her passport as well as all the procedures relevant to application for a passport and checking utilising checks of backgrounds of persons who present themselves at our offices" she said