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ANC bomb plot: four held Four South Africans held over suspected rightwing terror plots
(about 7 hours later)
South African police have foiled a plot by suspected rightwing extremists to bomb a meeting of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), officers said on Monday. Four white extremists have been arrested in South Africa over suspected acts of terrorism, police say.
Four men, aged between 40 and 50, were arrested on Sunday before the start of the party's 53rd national conference, the police said in a statement. The raids were made on Sunday, the opening day of the African National Congress conference in Bloemfontein, Free State province. Police have denied reports of a rightwing plot to bomb the event.
"They planned to plant a bomb in one of the tents," national police spokesman Phuti Setati said. Brigadier Billy Jones, a police spokesman, said four people had been detained: one in Bloemfontein, one elsewhere in Free State, one in Gauteng, the province containing Johannesburg, and one in Limpopo province.
The Federal Freedom party (FFP), a fringe group fighting for self-determination for South Africa's white Afrikaner minority, confirmed two of those arrested were FFP members but denied any role in the suspected plot. "The suspects are aged between 40 and 50," he said. "Their premises were searched and evidence supporting the investigation was seized.
"We were not involved and do not associate ourselves with their actions," the FFP national secretary, Francois Cloete, told Reuters.About 5,000 ANC members – including President Jacob Zuma, government ministers and senior business people – are attending the conference in the central city of Bloemfontein under heavy police presence. "At this stage we are not linking any of the arrests with the conference at all. The acts of these suspects were countrywide."
Police have not issued more details of the alleged plot, but said the suspects would be charged and appear in court. The four would be charged and brought before a court imminently while police investigate further, Jones added. "We are expecting to make more arrests, but we cannot reveal further details at the moment."
The few vehicles that were being allowed on to the university campus hosting the meeting were being checked by police and sniffer dogs. The Federal Freedom party (FFP), a fringe group which claims it is pushing for self-determination for the country's Afrikaner minority, said at least two of the people arrested were believed to be members of the party.
"This would have been an act of terrorism that South Africa can ill afford," ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said. Francois Cloete, its national secretary, told Reuters: "We were not involved and do not associate ourselves with their actions."
The vast majority of South Africa's whites accepted the ANC's victory in the 1994 election that ended decades of white-minority rule and brought Nelson Mandela to power. However, a tiny handful continues to oppose the historic settlement. Cloete described the FFP, which was established two months ago, as a "party that promotes self-determination of the Afrikaner/Boer people in a confederal political model".
In July, a former university lecturer was found guilty of orchestrating a 2002 plot aimed at assassinating Mandela, overthrowing the ANC and driving South Africa's black majority out of the country. More than 4,500 people, including President Jacob Zuma and dozens of ministers and top business people, are attending the five-day conference in Bloemfontein, in the municipality of Manguang, amid a heavy police presence.
Nominations for top party positions take place at the conference on Monday, with former union leader Cyril Ramaphosa – now South Africa's second-richest black businessman – well-placed to return to politics as Zuma's deputy. Meetings are being held on the campus of Free State University, which became infamous four years ago for a video showing white students humiliating black employees and urinating on their food.
Sources close to Ramaphosa, who has been out of front-line politics for the last decade, were confident he would win the vote for the ANC deputy president position. Results of the internal election are expected on Tuesday. The few vehicles allowed onto the campus are searched by police and sniffer dogs, while all individual bags are inspected. One newspaper editor described the security arrangements as far more extreme than the last conference in 2007, indicating "paranoia".
"The numbers are in our favour and we are going for it," said one ANC official backing Ramaphosa. "It's almost a done deal, Cyril is going to be our next deputy president." On Monday, two ANC spokespeople did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment. A third denied any knowledge of the arrests, saying the party was focused on internal elections.
Most white South Africans accepted the ANC's victory in the 1994 election that ended decades of racial apartheid and brought Nelson Mandela to power. But a dwindling handful continue to oppose the historic settlement.
In July, a former university lecturer was found guilty of orchestrating a plot in 2002 to assassinate Mandela, overthrow the ANC and drive South Africa's black majority out of the country.