DURBAN - Former State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo has dismissed claims that her department did not issue intelligence reports prior to the looting in July last year.

Dlodlo testified at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) hearing on Tuesday, investigating the unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Dlodlo said that her office issued orange and red alerts.

The police have claimed that no intelligence reports were received, saying that they had to rely on social media posts to learn about the unrest.

Dlodlo started her testimony by telling the hearing that she wanted to set the record straight about what had been said about the lack of intelligence.

“I would also like to address some of the specific allegations and statements that were made in the immediate aftermath of the violence by ministers of police and defence that we provided no intelligence information about the impending civil unrest,” Dlodlo said.

Dlodlo said that several alerts were issued to the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure.

She claimed that she submitted some of the alerts to the president herself: “Some of them were delivered to the president. I took personal responsibility for this. I stopped at some point because the director of the domestic branch had told me that she was briefing the president.”

Dlodlo said she could not be blamed for the various departments not receiving the reports.

Source: EWN