South Africa terrorist alert is from discredited businessman who is after money: report

The terrorist attack alert issued by the United States Embassy stating that South African shopping malls may be targeted is based on claims from a “discredited East African businessman”, according to a report.

News24 stated that a source with access to South African intelligence said the businessman was a discredited informer who was “only after the money he’d be paid for the information”.

The US, British, and Australian governments warned about a terror threat in South Africa, particularly in areas where its citizens gathered – such as high-end shopping malls.

News24 quoted the Africa Director for the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium Jasmine Opperman as saying that the alerts were “clearly from the same source”.

Opperman said there was “simply no indication of Islamic State cell structure presence or planned attacks in South Africa”.

The US Embassy declined to comment on the claims, and said it was working closely with local authorities.

State Security spokesperson Brian Dube said his department was not in a position to “reveal the intelligence being worked on”.

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