Terrorism and Counterterrorism in South Africa

Abstract

In recent years, growing evidence has shown that South Africa is increasingly playing a key supportive role for the operations of terrorist networks. Safe houses for terrorists have been identified, the nation's economic system has been used by terrorists to transfer funds, South African identity documents have been fraudulently obtained and provided to terrorists, and reports of paramilitary camps in the country have surfaced. Examining how this came about, this article looks at both the links between foreign and local terror networks and the state of South African security services before suggesting what effective measures can be undertaken to uproot the terror support structure that has already been set up.