President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on Thursday slammed the United States (U.S.), noting that the US embassy’s warning of a possible weekend “terrorist” attack in South Africa without consulting his government. was “unfortunate”.
Ramaphosa at a press conference declared: “It is quite unfortunate the US issued that type of warning without having any type of discussion with us.
“Any form of alert will come from the government of the Republic of South Africa and it is unfortunate that another government should issue such a threat as to send panic amongst our people.”
The South African President asserted that the country is “working round the clock to verify and to look very closely at this message that came from the United States”.
The US embassy on Wednesday posted the alert on its website, stating that the attacks will occur in Sandton, a collection of high-end shops and lofty office blocks and banks.
The US indicated that the attack may occur on Saturday.
According to the embassy, 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”.