South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday described as “unfortunate” the US embassy’s issuing of a warning of a possible weekend “terrorist” in the country without consulting his government.
The US embassy on Wednesday posted the alert on its website and identified the potential target as Sandton, a suburb in the country’s financial hub of Johannesburg.
Sandton, a collection of high-end shops and lofty office blocks and banks, is commonly referred to as the richest square mile on the African continent.
The US warning urged Americans to steer clear of big gatherings. It said the warning affects the suburb of Sandton, and is particularly acute during the coming weekend.
President Ramaphosa said the alert had been issued without any discussion with the South African authorities.
The embassy said the US government had “received information that terrorists may be planning to conduct an attack targeting large gatherings of people at an unspecified location in the greater Sandton area of Johannesburg”.
The alert was quickly shared on social media and on WhatsApp groups across Johannesburg.
Pretoria had on Wednesday appeared to downplay the alert calling it “part of the US government’s standard communication to its citizens”.
Several alerts have been issued about possible imminent terrorist attacks on South Africa in recent years, but none have materialised.
A local highly respected news website cited unnamed sources Thursday suggesting that a gay parade slated for Saturday in Sandton and a comedy show by a leading South African comedian of Jewish descent, could have been the potential targets.
It also said peace talks between warring Ethiopian parties, ongoing in Pretoria were also “flagged by South Africa’s intelligence agencies as a potential target”.
Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told local media on Thursday that “we are very concerned about terrorism… our security organs are paying attention to this matter”.
On Tuesday, the US and three other Western countries issued a similar terror alert for Nigeria.
Non-essential diplomatic staff in the capital, Abuja, are being relocated.