A Discussion On Terrorism As A Contemporary Criminological Issue.

A Discussion on
Terrorism as a
Contemporary
Criminological Issue.
Assignment 2: CMY4803
by
Hannes Koekemoer
8/26/2014

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Hannes Koekemoer|4576-965-6|Assignment 2: CMY4803
A Discussion on Terrorism as a Contemporary Criminological Issue.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................3
2. Definitions..............................................................................................................................4
3. Nature and Extent of Terrorism.............................................................................................5
3.1 Nature of Terrorism .............................................................................................................5
3.2 Global Extent........................................................................................................................5
3.3 Local Extent..........................................................................................................................6
4. Meet the Terrorist (Who are they?) ......................................................................................7
4.1 The Factions.........................................................................................................................7
4.2 The Leader............................................................................................................................8
4.3 The Follower ........................................................................................................................9
4.4 The supporter.......................................................................................................................9
5. And Their Victims (Why are they Chosen?) .........................................................................10
5.1 The Target ..........................................................................................................................10
5.2 The unfortunate bystander................................................................................................11
5.3 The Collateral.....................................................................................................................11
6. Modus Operandi ..................................................................................................................11
7. Causes ..................................................................................................................................13
7.1 Defiance of State................................................................................................................13
7.2 Oppress or be oppressed...................................................................................................13
7.3 Actions of the Minority in a Majority ................................................................................14
8. Theoretical Explanation .......................................................................................................14
8.1 Deviance or Social Control.................................................................................................15
8.2 Instrumental and Organisational.......................................................................................16
8.3 Rational Choice behind terrorism......................................................................................17

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9. Adjudication.........................................................................................................................18
10. Prevention..........................................................................................................................21
11. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................23
12. Bibliography .......................................................................................................................25

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1. Introduction
Cri i al a ts i te ded or al ulated to pro oke a state of terror i the ge eral pu li , a group of
persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever
the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other
ature that ay e i oked to justify the
— Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism
(General Assembly resolution 49/60, para. 3)
Terrorism has become more than just a movie plot or a threat for the American presidents.
Terrorism has grown both in size, matured in nature and has seen many applications and
manifestations. In the popular V for Vendetta movie (V for Vendetta, 2005) it paints the
picture of an oppressed London, a vigilante, with a tormented background and a zealous
ideology. The vigilante plans to destroy the British parliament so that out of the destruction
a e go er e t a rise. The ideolog that the igila te has is that people should t e
afraid of their governments but the governments of the people. The pop culture movie
depicts the mentality and design of a terrorist, and his ideolog . I toda s e er e pa di g
world the acts of terrorist are no longer localised; their actions are on a global scale from
America to China to even South Africa. Even on Local front we have seen acts against state,
fro the Boere Mag to the White Wido . A ts of terroris can range from passive attacks
against government to more violent acts of bombings and COOs. These acts of terrorism can
be seen from, a computer hacker (Cyber Terrorism) that leak classified information (Julian
Assange, Edward Snowden), to the bombings and massacres by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to
planned assassinations of the president (Boere Mag), many other forms of terrorism exist.
In this paper we will examine the current state on both global and local fronts of terrorism.
We will discuss the perpetrator of terrorism, who and what are they. In the paper the
discussion will also look at who the terrorist target and why. What are the underlining
common criminal operations and methodologies that terrorist groups have? The discussion
will also lead to the theoretical explanations on terrorism and terrorists. The paper will also
examine the root causes of these criminals and why they commit the acts. Finally we will
discuss the adjudication involved with terrorists and acts of terrorism, and how do we
prevent such acts of happening (Counter-terrorism).

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2. Definitions
2.1 Counter-Terrorism
Counter-terrorism can be seen as any measure that a country can employ to track, trace,
inform, and monitor the actions of terrorists. These methods can be in legislation [e.g.
PATRIOT Act in the USA, UNODC preventing terrorist Act.] in surveillance and or monitoring
[e.g. Passport and Visa Control] (Deflem, 2009)
2.2 Extremist
In the research report that Schmid (2013) wrote for the International Centre for Counter-
Terrorism he explain that extremist wants to create a homogeneous society, with strict,
dogmatic idealistic rule. They aim to make a conforming society by supressing any and all
opposition against the majority (or minority) rule. The main distinction between extremists
and radicals are that extremists reject diversity and the power of reason.
2.3 Terrorism
Terrorism can be plainly put as the deliberate and violent targeting of civilians for political
purposes (Richardson, 2006)
2.4 Terrorist
The prevention of terrorist act sees any person who either commits, assists, aids, conspire,
contrabute to and or intices someone else to commit an act of violence or terrorism is guilty
of terrorism. This includes the financial aiding or contribution by lawful or unlawful means
to assist any person or group in commiting any such acts of violence against civilians or state
(UNODC - Terrorism prevention Branch, 2006)
2.5 Radicals
Schmid (2013) explained that radicals are not always violent although they share
characteristics with exstremists in that theit have feelings of anger against their state, but
the main difference is that radical are willing to engage in critical thinking and this radical
attitude does not per se lead to violence.

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3. Nature and Extent of Terrorism
Terrorism is serious phenomena that cost many casualties in annually. Terrorism is not just a
phenomenon that happens in Middle Eastern countries or USA, but acts of terrorism are
globally spread. Terrorist attacks have greatly increased globally and even in Africa it has
become an issue that requires attention. South Africa has become an easy haven for
terrorist groups due to our lack of border control; corruption; and our fairly easy access to
other African Countries. These groups (both local and global) have used these factors to
their benefits.
3.1 Nature of Terrorism
Tilly (2004) mentions four steps to define and identify the phenomenon:
1 Noticing that a recurrent strategy of intimidation occurs widely in contentious politics
and corresponds approximately to what many people mean by terror;
(2) Recognizing that a wide variety of individuals, groups, and networks sometimes employ
that strategy;
(3) Relating the strategy systematically to other forms of political struggle proceeding in the
same settings and populations; and
(4) Seeing that specialists in coercion ranging from government employees to bandits
sometimes deploy terror under certain political circumstances, usually with far more
devastating effects than the terror operations of non-specialists
3.2 Global Extent
According to the UN website on global issues after the World trade centre bombing on 9/11
in 2001 there have been multiple terrorist attacks that have continued globally some of
these attacks have received global media coverage (United Nations, 2012):
 August, 2003, UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq
 March, 2004, Four commuter trains in Madrid, Spain
 May, 2004, Apartment blocks used by westerners in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
 July, 2004, London Underground, London, United Kingdom
 October, 2005, Seaside shopping hub, Bali, Indonesia

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 November, 2008, Multiple sites Across Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra
 July, 2009, Marriot and Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Jakarta, Indonesia
 March, 2010, Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia
According to Wikipedia (2014) there have been a total number of 185 reported terrorist
attacks so far this year (2014). With the number attacks rising as high as 44 (February 2014)
reported incidents in one month. Some of the incidents have casualties as high as 118 dead
and 56 Injured, in the Twin Bombings of a market and hospital on the 20th
of May 2014 in
Jos, Nigeria (Wikipedia, 2014) . Even Great Britai s MI5 ha e raised their alert o
international terrorism to severe status. The status means that there is a highly likeness for
a terrorist attack to take place (MI5, 2014). It must be added that cyber terrorism is used as
a means to an end; although these attacks are not violent they are used by some terrorist
groups. Many groups may use cyber terrorism to gain information or financial aid through
phishing scams.
3.3 Local Extent
Locally the idea of terrorism after 1994 was a not concept that people wanted to dwell on,
except for a few far right Afrikaners the country was on the journey of peace. The peace was
easily broken with the rise of the right-wing group the Boere mag. The members of the
Boere mag were charged with the 2005, petrol station bombing in Soweto, and later with
High treason and conspiracy to assassinate the late Pres. Mandela in 2013 (van Heerden,
2012).
These have not been the only acts of terrorism (or pseudo-terrorism), the case of the People
against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) who started out as a community movement against
crime in the gang thrive Cape Flats but later evolved to a terrorist group. On the 4th
of
August 1996 a formally anti-crime group turned into an organised vigilante group, who
marched to the home of Rashaad Staggie the leader of the Hard Livings gang. The grouped
turned to violent actions, and killed Staggie. Pagad has strong ties with Qibla (which was in
essence an Anti-Apartheid o e e t i the late 7 s (Potgieter, 2014).
According to a survey that was done by Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA)
Pagad had become more and more violent, their study listed between June 1996 and

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December 1997 as number of 222 violent attacks on drug dealers and their properties
(Potgieter, 2014). According to research done by Anneli Botha mentioned in Potgieter
(2014) on Pagad. Pagad had changed their violence strategy; the attacks where more violent
and serious, and the attacks moved away from drug dealers and gangster but towards public
places and places of entertainment (Potgieter, 2014).
I Potgieter s ook the Bla k Wido White Wido ’ many other cases of terrorism and the
Acts of Al-Qaeda in and around South Africa are mentioned and discussed. She is believed to
be behind the bombings in Nairobi. The two main hara ters that are emphasised is the
Black Widow (Hanlé Brink) and the White Widow (Samantha Lewthwaite) both on different
sides of the same coin. The black widow was a counter-terrorist operative who assisted in
Operation Kanu, an operation to stop a right-wing group who called themselves the new
boere commando. The group planned to bomb a Soccer stadium during the FIFA 2010 World
Cup. The white widow an Al-Qaeda terrorist is said to be behind the bombing of the
Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Nigeria in September 2013 (Potgieter, 2014).
4. Meet the Terrorist (Who are they?)
Who are terrorists? How do they look? Is it only religious extremists who become terrorists?
These are the question that many ask when dealing with terrorism and terrorist, but in the
end who are they? Terrorism and acts of terror are seen as a crime by countries and world
organizational bodies (UNODC - Terrorism prevention Branch, 2006) we can elaborate that
as every crime has a specific perpetrator, an actor to the part, so will terrorism have a
specific character. We can divide the perpetrator in to three classes, the factions (The main
terrorist group), the leader and the followers.
4.1 The Factions
All terrorist groups are motivated by a political agenda either to alleviate a social-injustice or
to overthrow the current government. The groups usually have a strong ideology and
develop moral and rational justification for their actions that they preach to their followers
(Richardson, 2006). The factions actions may seem irrational on individual level but on

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organizational level, the actions seem rational and in line with the desired goal. For terrorist
it is not regarded immoral to act against state [the state is not a person] and the state is
seen as the enemy [and civilians assist the enemy through paying tax] these grant them
moral justification to attack civilians [they are part of the enemy] (Richardson, 2006).
4.2 The Leader
The leaders of terrorist groups usually have the following in common they all have rage,
they are all good public speakers and are cunning (Schurman-Kauflin, 2013). This is evident
with many of the terrorist leaders. Many of the terrorist leaders have made numerous
statements that label themselves as terrorist. These statements also create a source of
moral and rational justification for the actions of their followers.
If killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are
terrorist - Osama Bin Laden
They lai e are terrorists. I ould like to gi e the follo i g a s er so that e eryo e a
think about it: has it or has is not been Yankee imperialism and particularly Reagan who has
branded all revolutionary movements as terrorists, yes or no? This is how they attempt to
dis redit a d isolate us i order to rush us – Abimael Guzman.
Okay. “o I a a terrorist. But hat ould you all the ? If they are keepers of
constitutional order, if they are anti-terrorists, then I spit on all these agreements and nice
ords -Shamil Basayev
I George Or ell s ook Animal Farm (1949) the animals were easily swayed by the leader
with the greater speaking ability and greater cunning, and were indoctrinated to believe a
set of rules and later these rules had changed to only favour the leaders of the group. Many
leaders of terrorist groups take social, political and financial gain from terrorism having
multiple properties, and staying in palace like compounds with many having personal
guarding services (Sadam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, Yasser Arafat).

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4.3 The Follower
Research done by John Horgan mentioned in the article by DeAngelis (2009) explained
several characteristics on why and how idividuals are lured and recruitied into terrorist
groups:
 Most people feel angry, alienated or disenfranchised.
 They believed that they need to have the political power to affect change.
 They identify with the victims of the same injustices they are against.
 They feel that actions speak louder than arguments.
 Most feel that it is ot i oral to a t iole tl agai st the state
 Their support et ork u dersta ds the ause .
 They believe that they will experience social and psychological satisfaction and glory
when joining such groups.
The followers in terrorist groups do not always start out to be violent, but as they become
more and more involved in their opinions are swayed. Political and Religious propaganda is
indoctrinated into them, until finally they act as one group and their own opinions and
needs are replaced with that of the group.
4.4 The supporter
When we think of a perpetrator we think of the doer the person who acts or orders the
actions, but there are perpetrator in the war against terrorism that is not directly involved in
the violent actions. Most of the supporters gain finances by unlawful means and donate
them to the terrorist groups. According to the prevention of terrorist act (UNODC -
Terrorism prevention Branch, 2006) it states the following regarding the supporters of
terrorist groups:
. Any person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person by any
means, directly or indirectly, unlawfully and wilfully, provides or collects funds with the intention that
they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry
out:

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(a) An act which constitutes an offence within the scope of and as defined in one of the treaties listed
in the annex; or
(b) Any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person
not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such
act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or compel a government or an
i ter atio al orga izatio to do or to a stai fro doi g a y a t.
5. And Their Victims (Why are they Chosen?)
To understand why a person is chosen to be the victim in a crime is to know both the
criminal and their victim. The victim of a crime tells a lot about the perpetrator in the crime
that the crime itself. Terrorism is in no case different; victims are selectively targeted, either
specific person (Assassination attempts) or a larger population group (Bombings) or a place
of gathering (Stadiums, Airports, public structures or religious structures). To explain the
characteristics of the victims on terrorism we will look at the decided target, the
unfortunate by stander, the collateral damage of each attack. As explained by Richardson
(2006) the victims are always civilians but the attended targets are not. We will discuss this
on the basis of the intended target, the civilian as the unfortunate bystander and casualty,
the final aspect is where we will discuss the collateral damage that is done through terrorist
attacks.
5.1 The Target
For Terrorist the main target will always be those who are the reasons for the social injustice
or discriminations. For Al-Qaeda it is any country or government that oppress Muslims. Al-
Qaeda s a tio s a e see as a essage to the go er e t, like the 9/ atta k o the
world trade centre. The attack was directed at the USA government, they wanted to hurt
the government, but because the government is an intangible actor. Thus terrorist attack
those place or people who support the government. Osama Ben Laden stated that any
person, who pays tax supports the government, supports the enemy.
Some terrorist groups will only target selected population or ethnic groups like Hamas in
Israel, only target Israeli citizen as an attack on the Israeli government who discriminate

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against Palestinian Muslims in Israel (Piazza, 2011). In the cases of the Boere mag, the new
boere commando and the AWB they only targeted (or wanted to target) black settlements
or businesses (Potgieter, 2014).
5.2 The unfortunate bystander
The main victims of acts of terrorism as stated earlier are always civilians. The civilians are
not actively involved in the war against the terrorists or against the government. They are
unfortunate bystanders to the event. In the 9/11 attack on the world trade centre claimed
almost 3000 lives. The people in the world trade centre that day had no specific role in the
attack they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The same can be said for the people
in Westgate shopping Mall in Jos, Nigeria. The effect of a terrorists attack is felt by the
casualties of civilians.
5.3 The Collateral
With every attack there are countless amounts of damages to structures, infrastructures,
social and political opinion (The collateral). The terrorist attacks on the World trade centre
cost the US Government lost billions and many lost their jobs (Wikipedia, 2014). The US also
lost their fi a ial e tre of the hole ou tr , rippli g the ou tr s e o o .
6. Modus Operandi
Richardson (2006, p20-22) argued that terrorism has seven crucial characteristics:
1. A terrorist act is politically motivated.
2. A terrorist act always involves violence or has the threat of violence.
3. The terrorist wants to communicate a message.
4. Both the act and the target (Victim) have symbolic significance
5. Terrorism is an act of a sub-state group not the state.
6. The reason behind the act is not direct to the victim but to a different audience.
7. Terrorist deliberately target civilians.

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‘i hardso s se e hara teristi s of terroris gi e us a good picture of what terrorism and
a terrorist act must include for it to be label as such. We can thus assume that not every act
on civilians can be labelled as an act of terrorism, but that the act must be politically
motivated, and the act must be incorporate violence of threat thereof.
Richardson (2006) holds true that the terrorist groups and their actions can be defined by a
small matrix. The first variable is the nature of the goals and the second the relationship to
community. The nature of goals can fall into two categories temporal and transformational.
He explained that temporal goals are political goals; these goals can be met by social-
political adjustments. These goals can be achieved without changing the fundamental
balance of power; temporal goals are also negotiable and can be compromised. While
Transformational goals are non-negotiable and for these goals to be met the complete
breakdown of the regional state system is required. The relations to community can either
be close or isolated. Isolated groups act separate from the community and is not supported
them. These groups tend to be more easily defeated, with their lack in financial aid they will
resort to crimes. On the other hand we have terrorist groups that have a close connection
with their community. These groups are far more difficult to approach or defeat, because
the community share their views and supports them. Although the community does not
condone every action nor do they part take in the violent actions, but they do allow them to
continue.
Nature of Goals
Relationship
to
community
Temporal Transformational
Isolated
Closed
Adapted from What terrorist want (Richardson, 2006, p30).

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7. Causes
Zalman (2014) mentions in her article two motivations of terrorism namely social and
political justice and the belief that violence will affect change. She explain that terrorists to
ask what causes terrorism is limited, rather we should focus on what conditions make it
favourable for terrorism to take place. The conditions give greater facets to why terrorism
happens, Zalman (2014) continues to mention that poverty [Iranian desert], religious
extremists [Al-Qaeda], political climate [Ukrainian separatists], previously colonized regions
[Palesti e/Israel] a d so ial pro o atio s [Boere ag s fear of Uhuru]. For the purpose of
this study we will discuss three points that are aligned with the aforementioned
motivations, terrorism as defiance against state, Terrorism as either being the oppressor or
the oppressed and finally the radicals and extremist minority groups standing against a
larger majority.
7.1 Defiance of State
Deflem (2009) explains that terrorism can be seen as a means of dealing with grievances
against the state by targeting other more vulnerable groups to send a message to the
government. In areas like the Gaza strip Israel and Palestine are fighting about an area that
has been in different claims since biblical times, the Palestinians staying Israel are in uprising
against the Israeli government whose policies are close to that of the Apartheids era. The
Palestinian lo als e tre ists (Hamas) have thus resort to violent acts to raise their
grievances. These acts are both politically motivated and in the Muslim minority belief that
their iole t a ts ill e heard . These i orit groups i Israel are la elled as terrorists.
7.2 Oppress or be oppressed
In South African history, the apartheid government was built by the white Afrikaner
minority, while they oppress and dominated the other races, after 1994 and the fall of the
apartheid regime the country entered a new era. This era was not favoured by all; most of
the some right-wing groups separated themselves by establishing Orania a localised state.
There multiple radicle groups in South Africa like the Suidlanders, die Afrikaner
Weerstandsbeweeging (AWB), Volksraad, the new Boere commando and the extremist

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group labelled the Boere Mag. It has become evident in the Boere Mag trail that the once
oppressor had become the oppressed, in the boere mag trail actions of pipe bombing,
assassination plots and high treason were highlighted (SAHO, 2014). The Boere mag was
motivated by political propaganda that stems from the apartheid regime, that once old Pres.
Nelson Mandela would pass on, that I would mark the start of Uhuru (Night of the long
Knifes). They believed that their extremist and violent actions against the ANC government
would unite all Afrikaners against the government. These views and believes are shared by
most of the Afrikaner Radicles and extremists.
7.3 Actions of the Minority in a Majority
In research done on the relation between minority groups and terrorism (Piazza, 2011;
Piazza, 2012) it was evident that in countries where the minority groups would experience
economic discrimination that the chances of these minority groups would rise to violent
actions against the state. In history we can see that minority groups have on countless times
resorted to violent attacks and resorted to terrorism. Cases like the Sunni and the Shai
Muslims, where the Shia Muslim are almost 11% of the muslim population globally
(IslamicWeb, 1997; Wikipedia, 2014) the Shia muslim are also the most extremist, most Al-
Qaeda s are reported to e “hia usli s, their ai argu e t is that God Allah alls the
for the Holy war (jihad). In South Africa it was the white Afrikaner capitalist who gave rise to
the apartheid regime, who had fears of being dominated by the larger black population. It
can be hypothesised that because afrikaners are know in the minority and are experiencing
economic discrimination and social oppression that the rise of Extremist groups are a
natural result.
8. Theoretical Explanation
Terrorism has many causes and it has many roots; it has a perpetrator and a victim, like
most crimes. Like most crime we can theorise why the crime exist and why the perpetrator
commits such a crime. There are many theoretical arguments to explain terrorism as a
criminological phenomenon. For the purpose of this paper we will discuss terrorism a long
three theoretical approaches, terrorism as criminal deviance and social control; terrorism as

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an instrumental and organisational approaches; and finally we will discuss terrorist as
rational actors with rational choice.
8.1 Deviance or Social Control
Most people see terroris as a for of De ia e fro the or al populatio . “o ial
o trol theorists argue that people are i here tl hedo isti a d ad . Hirshi s argu e t is
based on the social bonds premises with its four key bonds, attachment, commitment,
involvement and beliefs (Pratt, Travis C; Gau, Jacinta M; Franklin, Travis W, 2011). Pratt et
al. (2011) explains that attachment is the social affection or connection [bond] that we
develop with our parents [or pseudo-parents or parental figures], peer groups and
institutions. They continued to explain commitment as the value of importance that people
attach to social relationships. The third bond is involvement this can be explained at the
time spent with social groups and the final bond is beliefs. Beliefs can be explained as the
degree that we adhere to social norms and the law and the values associated with our
behaviour (Pratt, et al., 2011).
Although Hirshi originally formulated his arguments to why people are good, the theory can
be applied to different circumstances and crimes. The argument is thus, if a young
individual, a white Afrikaner, was brought in an extremist family where his father is part of
the Boere mag and the AWB. His social control will not result in deviance to his perceived
view of normality. The same can be said in the case of Muslim youth that join extremist
groups. Both of the youths will find attachment to his own parents or in the case where his
parents are deceased he will find attachment in pseudo-parents. The leader of a terrorist or
extremist group is usually then the favoured actor of the parent role, in the groups they will
find friends and peers with in that group. The commitment to the group will be solidify with
his peers and the favourable attention that he will receive from his new family. He will later
value their opinions above all others. The third social bond is fast tract by his own actions,
the more he is involved into the group, the greater his commitment will be (socially and
visually) and the leaders in return will show commitment to the youngster by giving him
greater value in the group. The final bond mentioned by Hirshi is beliefs. To terrorist groups
beliefs are moral and rational justification behind their actions. The first thing that any
terrorist group does is indoctrinate the new individuals, changing and moulding their beliefs

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to be in line with the beliefs of the group. It is well to note that terrorists do not see their
violent actions against state as bad, but as necessary. They believe the victims to be part of
the enemy as silent supporters.
8.2 Instrumental and Organisational
Crenshaw (1988) suggested that terrorist can be explained by two basic approaches
instrumental and organisational. She argued that both approaches are needed to provide an
understanding of terrorism. The two approaches are thus combined be used as explanation.
Instrumental approach explains that violent actions are seen as necessary and intentional.
They are regarded as means to a political end (Crenshaw, 1988; Özdamar, 2008). According
to Crenshaw (1988, 2010) terrorist attacks are used as strategy against the government. The
terrorism is used to affect change in government not to limit military capabilities. The
approach theorises that terrorist act as an organisation making analysis of their actions and
strategies, and whether they are feasible. The costs and gains of every action are
outweighed. Terrorist will always act to the benefit of their own goals and gains (Özdamar,
2008). Özdamar (2008) explained that according to the instrumental approach, that a
terrorist group can be seen as successful if their actions effect their end political goal.
The Organisational approach argues that the main goal goal of a terrorist groups are to
survive or to maintain it self, like any other enterprise or corporation in a competative
environment (Crenshaw, 1988; Özdamar, 2008). Özdamar (2008) continues by explaining
that the leader of the group will even pay incentives and provide benefits [in some cases
these benefits are not tagible like Musli sui ide o er s pro ise of glor to God Allah ]
to memebers much like the corporate world to ensure competative actions from the
workers [followers]. Crenshaw (1988) explains that the organisational approach sees that
the terrorist group must become selfsustaining, despite its political actions, the
organisational goals of the group will not always be in line with their ideological goals and
may vary. The oganisational goals will change as their needs for survival change. Özdamar
(2008) explained that the organisational approach gives an understanding of its internal
process.

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The two approaches together gives us an better understanding of the internal and external
process of terrorism. That terrorist sees their violent actions as a means to an end, but they
cannot exist by terrorist attacks. The have to ensure internal stability as well to limit splinter
cells and financial loss. The terrorist group can thus establish a balance of their political
actions and their gains and losses analysis. This explanation also gives insight into why not
every extremist/terrorist group last and why some redefine themselves and result to
lucrative money scemes and criminal behaviour. It also give us an explantion why some
members have zealot like loyalty and amdiration for their group, as strong actions translate
to incentives and benefits.
8.3 Rational Choice behind terrorism
Most people will argue that terrorist are irrational and can be regarded as insane. This in
fact is not true. Most terrorists act on rational and free choice of their behaviour and
actions. The rational choice theory is built on three main premises. The first is that crime is a
purposeful eha iour that is desig ed to eet the offe ders [terrorist s] eeds, this i ludes
make of decisions and choices (these maybe limited to time, ability and availability of that
which is needed (Clarke & Felson, 2008). The Clarke and Felson (2008) explained the second
premise is that the crime should be explained in the context that it occurs[ed], because the
decision making process is regarded as situational. They also explained that each crime will
serve a different purpose to the next. The final premise of rational choice is that there
should be a distinction between criminality and crime. Criminality refers to the process in
which a person choses to become involved in a form of crime, to continue and to stop their
involvement (Clarke & Felson, 2008).
The theories argue that the actions of all criminals have a rational root. Terrorist are no
different. They deliberately choose to join a terrorist group, they deliberately and willing
choose to act in accordance to these group. The terrorist group itself act solely to its own
benefit (Social, political and economic) they choose whether their actions will have the
desired outcome and whether their needs [fulfilment of their goals] are met. Terrorist uses
violent act, as well as other crimes (Fraud, scams and embezzlement) to assist them in their
goals. Throughout the actions of such group, the leader will face multiple choices and
decision all depending on the current circumstance and resources available to acquire their

[18]
goals. This theory also grants insight into why most terrorist groups cease to exist after goals
have been met, or why some move on to other areas.
9. Adjudication
The legal side of terrorism is a complex situation, because that most act of terrorism occurs
trans-national. According to law principles a person can only be trialled and convicted of a
crime within the country that a person has committed the crime. It is because of this that
the United Nations established the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The
Netherlands. The ICC has the authority to charge and put a person on trial that has
committed actions against humanity. In this large scale terrorism can be seen as crimes
against humanity.
It was established in 2006 at the Prevention of Terrorists Act Convention that each country
should establish laws against terrorism (UNODC - Terrorism prevention Branch, 2006). After
the 9/11 attack the USA sanctioned the PATRIOT Act, the act grant the US Government the
right to search and seize any property (physical and intellectual) under suspect of terrorism.
It also gives the government certain amount of freedom to investigate, prevent and stop
any person who is under suspect of being a terrorist or involved in terrorism.
A ordi g to I stitute for “e urit “tudies data ase o o prehe si e ou ter-terrorism
South Africa has a multitude of policies, laws and acts that govern and assist with the
prevention and criminalisation of terrorism (ISS Africa, 2010): RSA Constitution 1996, RSA
Criminal Procedure Amendment Act 86 of 1996, RSA Defence Act 42-2002, RSA Explosives
Act 15-2003, RSA Extradition Amendment Act 77 of 1996, RSA Films and Publication Amend
Act 18-2004, RSA Firearms Control Amend Act 43 of 2003, RSA General Intelligence Laws
Amend Act 52 of 2003, RSA Immigration Act 13 of 2002, RSA Implementation of the Rome
Statute of the International 2002, RSA Interception and Monitoring Prohibition Act 127 of
1998, RSA International Air Service Act 60 of 1993, RSA International Co-operation in
Criminal Matters Act75 of 1996, RSA Judicial Matters Amend Act 34 of 1998, RSA Judicial
Matters Second Amend Act 55-2003, RSA National Convention Arms Control Act 41 of 2002,
RSA National Prosecuting Authority Act 32 of 1998, RSA National Prosecuting Authority

[19]
Amendment Act 61 of 2000, RSA National Security Services Act 33 of 2004, RSA Non-
Poliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act 87 of 1993, RSA NonProfit Organisations
Act 71-1997, RSA Nuclear Energy Act 46-1999, RSA Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of
1998, RSA Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities
Act 2004, RSA Refugees Act 130 of 1998 , RSA Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act
15 of 1998 , RSA Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993, RSA Regulation of Interception of
Communication 2002, RSA Terrorism Bill -B12D – 2003, RSA Witness Protection Act 112 of
1998, RSA Financial Intelligence Centre Act 2001. All these have sections that specifically
deal with the prevention and control of terrorism in South Africa.
The bill that specifically deals with terrorism is the South African terrorism Bill B12D, 2002.
In Chapter 2 Section 3, deals more specific with offences related or connected to terrorist
activities (RSA, 2002). It states that:
3. (1) Any person who
(a) Does anything which will, or is likely to, enhance the ability of any person orentity
to engage in a terrorist activity, including to provide or offering to provide a skill or
an expertise;
(b) Enters or remains in any country; or
(c) makes himself or herself available, for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in
association with any person or entity engaging in a terrorist activity, and who knows
or ought reasonably to have known or suspected, that such act was done for the
purpose of enhancing the ability of such person or entity to engage in a terrorist
activity, is guilty of the offence associated with a terrorist activity.
(2) Any person who
(a) Provides or offers to provide any weapon to any other person for use by or for the
benefit of, a person or entity;
(b) Solicits support for or gives support to a person or entity;
(c) Provides, receives or participates in training or instruction, or recruits a person or
entity to receive training or instruction;
(d) Recruits any person or entity;
(e) Collects or makes a document; or
(f) possesses a thing,

[20]
connected with the engagement in a terrorist activity, and who knows or ought reasonably
to have known or suspected that such weapons, soliciting, training, recruitment, document
or thing is so connected, is guilty of an offence connected with terrorist activities.
This gives us the legal framework in which a person can be found guilty of a terrorist offence
in SA. Other sections in South African law allows for the charges of treason, conspiracy to
commit treason, crimes against state and crimes against the good order of South Africa.
Many of the bodies that form part of the Security Cluster has Counter-terrorist sections, the
South African Police Force, National Intelligence agency, Military intelligence and the Hawks.
These sections are the enforcers of legislations and act as preventers of terrorism. During
the Boere mag trail evidence surfaced that contributed the success of the operation was
due to counter terrorist agents. The evidence later showed that the involvement of these
counter agents may have been a catalyst to the actions of the boere mag and their use of
pipe bombs and the planning and the orchestration of the planned bombings (SAHO, 2014).
Potgieter gave account of the involvement of the Black Widow and other secret operatives
in the conviction of the leader of the New Boere Commando leader who conspired to bomb
the soccer stadiums during the FIFA 2010 World Cup (Potgieter, 2014).
On the correctional service level the involvement is limited, as people who are charged with
terrorist crimes are housed according to their classification (Usually Maximum security
classification) in such dedicated facilities (DCS, 1998; 2008a; 2008b). Another concern can
be raised is that the Department of correctional services do not have the resources to
rehabilitate such offenders as no developed programme is available (DCS, 2008). The
Correctional Service act does how ever make provision that the accomplices or co-accused
are not allowed to be housed in the same cell or close proximity (DCS, 1998; 2008) in most
cases they are house in different cells where available. In cases where these offenders have
become a higher risk they are allowed to be transfer to a correctional facility who has a
higher security sections (Super-Max)

[21]
10. Prevention
How to we prevent a crime that is rooted in the political, economic and social climate of the
world. How do we develop counter terrorist methods that are proactive and not reactive?
Most common method of prevention of terrorism is by reducing their political utility with
strict no concession policies. The popular belief by among the heads of states is that
terrorist attacks will stop when terrorists realise that their actions only hurt their cause
(Abrahms, 2008). Abrahms (2008) discuss three common strategies on prevention and
counter-terrorism the first is to defuse terrorism through political accommodation. Abrahms
explain that the second is to encourage peace and instil political sanctions against groups
that resort to terrorism, the third strategy is to use democracy promotion this encourages
citizens to peacefully raise their political problems thus decreasi g terrorists utilit .
Richardson (2006, p246-280) gave six rules in his book What Terrorists Want that needs to
be followed when establishing a prevention of terrorism strategy:
Rule 1# Have a defensible and achievable goals.
Rule 2# Live by your principles.
Rule 3# Know your enemy.
Rule 4# Separate the terrorists from their communities.
Rule 5# Engage others in countering terrorists with you.
Rule 6# Have patience and keep your perspective.
We can formulate a wire frame for a preventive strategy using the explanations and causes
of terrorism as our basis and the rules as guidelines.
I. Goal: Limit and prevent the terrorism in South Africa
II. Principles:
a. All humans have the right to dignity and integrity. That the actions of
terrorist are to further their own goals.
b. Terrorists are motivated by political and social-injustice and by
alleviating these issues may lead to decreased terrorist utility.
c. That all actions should be to promote the protection of and limit the
collateral damage to civilians

[22]
d. That as government we should not resort to the same violence as the
terrorist as this will only damage our own goal.
III. Counter-intelligence agencies should work together, in gather all forms on
data on terrorist in and around South Africa. The collections should include
but not limited to Africa. Research should be done by state and tertiary
bodies on the crime trends of terrorist and their movements to make
empirical analysis.
IV. Don not engage terrorist on their community grounds, remove the risk from
the direct area. B o i g the terrorists out of their safe zo es isolates the
group making it easier to combat them. This will also limit civilian casualties
during contact with the groups.
V. Establish trans-national committees and mutual understanding with
international bodies and other countries. This will allow for the easy
exchange of data on terrorist movements and trends, reducing the shadow
that terrorist act from.
VI. To take time and precision when involved with terrorist and counter-
terrorism actions. To allow for evidence beyond reasonable doubt in court
that a party is guilty of such actions. By rushing or acting over eager can only
damage the work that has already been done.

[23]
11. Conclusion
Terrorism a crime that is more complicated and wide spread that believed. The nature and
extent is already widely recorded. We discussed terrorism abroad and in South
Africa and a distinct link between cross-global terrorism could be drawn. Terrorist groups
are using the corruption in public sector and at the border post to further their own
agendas. It is also evident that South Africa has become both a safe haven for terrorist like
the white widow and has become a testing and training ground for terrorist actions in other
countries.
The paper looked at the characteristics of the perpetrator (the terrorist) and the victim (the
civilian. A discussion was make regarding the different perpetrator that are involved in
terrorism, the group as whole, the leader as motivator and enticer, the follower [the actor
to the lead] and the supporter (those who assist and aid the group). The discussion followed
over to the victim and it was mentioned that although the victim is always a civilian the
intended target of the terrorism. We also discussed the collateral damage that is caused by
the terrorist attacks and the billions of Rands it cost the tax payers to fix and repair.
The discussion lead to the Modus operandi of terrorist groups, it was discussed on the hand
of the matrix that was established by Richardson. Most terrorist groups share the same
basic MO. A politically or religiously (that relates back to politics) motivated group that
resort to violent act against civilians as a method and means to an end to affect change in
the current government or social-injustice issues. The causes of terrorism were also
discussed, and it was found that there are multiple factors that make it conducive or
favourable for terrorism to exist. We discussed three main causes, defiance against state,
oppress or be oppressed and the actions of minority groups in between majority groups.
The paper looked at three of theoretical explanations of terrorism. Deviance or social
control as a model that sees terrorists as a social control response to their socialisation into
criminality and the terrorist group. The Instrumental and Operational approaches give us a
better view of the external and internal process of terrorist groups. Together the two
approaches gave a greater understanding of terrorist groups as a working and functional
corporation. The final theoretical explanation that was discussed was the rational choice
theory, and the premised holds that offenders/criminals/terrorists act by rational choice

[24]
and decision making before, during and after the crime. The theory rejects any claim that
terrorist are insane or mentally unfit and unstable.
Finally the discussion lead to the adjudication (the involvement of the law and legal system)
it was discussed that South Africa has multiple laws, acts, bills, and policies that assist the
judicial system and security cluster to ensure that terrorists are caught, brought to justice
and sentenced. We also discussed the prevention of Terrorism and the three most common
used strategies, we also looked at establishing a wire frame for a prevention strategy using
the six rules given by Richardson.
We can thus conclude that criminology is a large issue that deserve local and international
attention from criminologist. The issue of terrorism is a contemporary issue in that it is not
based far abroad or outside the consequence of “outh Afri a s orders. The issue should e
dealt with on a national, transnational and international level, and more proactive
legislations should be developed to ensure optimum prevention and conviction.

[25]
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