Johannesburg - The SAPS crime intelligence unit has been brought in to investigate why an armed man who works for a security company tried to sneak into the ANC national general council over the weekend by impersonating a police officer.
On Saturday afternoon, the 37-year-old arrived at the Midrand conference trying to gain entry without accreditation.
“When police questioned him about the accreditation, he produced a police appointment certificate and was also found in possession of a firearm. Police arrested him for impersonating a police officer and later established that he was working for a security company in Centurion,” said provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Mashadi Selepe on Sunday.
“It was later established that the police appointment certificate was false, while the firearm belonged to a security company where he’s employed, even though he wasn’t in possession of a permit,” she added.
While police have remained mum about their theories as to what the man intended to do if he managed to get inside, Selepe confirmed that the Crime Intelligence Unit would now be investigating the matter.
She was unwilling to name the security company where the man works, saying it was unnecessary to tarnish the name of the company based on the personal actions of one of its employees.
The man will be charged with possession of a firearm without a permit, in terms of the Firearms Control Act, and impersonating a police officer. He was expected to appear in the Midrand Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning.
No comment could be acquired from the ANC on Sunday.
Saturday’s incident comes nearly three years after several men were arrested for plotting to fire a mortar bomb at the entrance of the ANC’s Mangaung conference venue, held at the University of the Free State in December 2012.
The idea had been to wipe out the ANC leadership, including President Jacob Zuma, but a joint operation between police and the Hawks thwarted those plans.
The mastermind behind the plot, Mark Trollip, entered into a plea bargain with the State and received an eight-year sentence, while another man, Johan Prinsloo, was convicted of high treason in November last year. He is serving a 13-year jail term.
One of the men who had been arrested along with Prinsloo on December 16, 2012 had charges against him withdrawn, while another one, Martin Keevy, was declared unfit to stand trial.
The Star