South African Jewry are reeling after startling new evidence emerged in the trial of Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie on Tuesday, revealing that the country’s largest Jewish high school, King David Linksfield in Johannesburg, was on the 23-year-old identical twins’ list of previously undisclosed Jewish targets.
The name of Jewish cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) was on the list, revealed in court.
Angry King David parents and teachers believed they should have been warned before hearing this on the news while their loved ones were still at the school.
Apparently the school had been briefed some three months ago.
The community was so perturbed that the Community Security Organisation (CSO) agreed to hold a public meeting on Wednesday night to allay the concerns of those “seeking clarity – both on the facts of the case and on the security situation of our community”, said the organisation, mandated to look after the security of the Johannesburg community.
Rabbi Craig Kacev, general director of the SA Board of Jewish Education – which operates the 10 King David School campuses around Gauteng – told Jewish Report he believed he had acted correctly under the circumstances.
Kacev and the school’s principal, Lorraine Srage, had been briefed by police three months ago as a precaution, but they had been sworn to secrecy until the matter came out in court. Kacev says they honoured that pledge – and had communicated the situation with all the teachers and parents by 15:00 on Tuesday afternoon.
The two suspected ISIS-sympathisers were arrested on July 9 last year and it had been known all along that a list of targets had been found. Until this week, however, State Security had confiscated the list. They steadfastly refused to identify the twins’ hitlist.
The initial charge sheet referred simply to “Jewish Institutions” as being on the list – and only this week were three of the Jewish targets identified. Authorities had previously said they would not risk compromising ongoing investigations. South Africa had been tipped off about the twins and another suspect, who is in protective custody as a material state witness, by “foreign intelligence agencies”.
The twins had been nabbed at their West Rand homes after several foreign intelligence agencies tipped South Africa off that someone using the name “Simba”, had advertised for explosive detonators on the deep web, which is not picked up by search engines such as Google.
Due to their being held under Terrorism Act charges, the Thulsies are not automatically entitled to bail.
This week’s court appearance was held to facilitate the trial being moved from the Magistrates Court to the High Court. For this reason, a legal pundit told Jewish Report, it had been necessary for the State to make the court aware of the gravity of the charges. This was why they finally disclosed some of the targets on the list.
Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) would not speak to the media, according to his office. He was believed to have been on the list for having drawn the prophet Muhammad.
“Prior to the arrests,” (of the Thulsies) said Rabbi Kacev, “we had been adding additional security measures at our schools at immense cost.” Those measures had begun last May, he explained. The main thrust of the SABJE security upgrades are to create additional security at the entrances to their schools. “Once they are in, somebody will get hurt,” said Kacev.
The schools had added a second tier of security at all entrances, as well as extra cameras on the premises and had several other ongoing security initiatives. “We had acted pre-emptively after watching what has been going on globally.” He added that it is important for South African Jewry that the Thulsie case be won. “The authorities have been so expert in their handling of this case; it really has been impressive,” he said.
Other new information disclosed in court this week, included:
The Thulsies planned to use firearms‚ explosives and possibly poisons.
Other targets were the British, US, Russian and French embassies in Pretoria.
The twins’ social media discussions prior to their arrest included incriminating evidence.
National chairman of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, Jeff Katz, said that the Board has been “working very closely with prosecutors and the investigating officers “and we are confident in the ability of the State” to make its case.
The CSO (Community Security Organisation), has also been in close contact with the authorities throughout the case. “It is vital for the community to empower itself as the randomness of the targets show that neither the CSO nor the authorities can do this alone,” said a communal notice on Tuesday.
The brothers, who have changed their names to Sallahuddin and Yakeen, are still being remanded in custody.
A 12th charge, of fraud perpetrated in the Free State in 2015, was added this week. Prosecutor Chris MacAdam asked the court to postpone the matter to May 15 so that he can finalise whether the new count‚ which falls outside the jurisdiction of the Gauteng High Court‚ could be added.
