Cape Town - The police top brass has admitted in Parliament on failure of its intelligence to pick up violent protests earlier during the elections before they exploded in the open in Tshwane, Vuwani and other areas.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenat-General Khomotso Phahlane told the portfolio committee on police on Wednesday they were beefing up their intelligence structures to avoid any lapse in security agencies that may threaten South Africa.
The SAPS was also going to strengthen its co-operation with the State Security Agency on information sharing and intelligence gathering.
Phahlane admitted to MPs they were caught-off on violent protests at universities, Vuwani, Tshwane and other areas during the local government elections.
He said their reaction to defuse violent protests was not as quick as it should be. They should have moved faster on the protests, he said.
“We agree with our Crime Intelligence and State Security Agency that we should receive information earlier to avoid the explosion,” said Phahlane.
“I never expected Tshwane to be like that including Vuwani. You can never expect so many schools to be burnt,” he said of Vuwani where more than 20 schools were torched over municipal boundary dispute.
There was a low turnout during the elections in Vuwani after the demarcation dispute was not resolved.
He said they were beefing up their intelligence structures to move quicker in violent protests.
ANC MP and chairman of the portfolio committee, Francois Beukman, said he was concerned about the level of intelligence on the ground.
He said it appeared that the events were moving faster than the intelligence of the police.
Phahlane admitted they were caught off guard in some of the violent protests.
It is in this context that they were reviewing their intelligence structures. They wanted to move faster than the people leading the violent protests and act decisively to prevent any explosion of violence.
Phahlane said the review would lead to the separation of crime intelligence from counter-intelligence.
He said the review was still at an initial stage and they were providing capacity to the crime intelligence unit of the SAPS.
He would not say how long the review of the intelligence unit would take.