In November 2023 a statue of Mary was beheaded, and slogans were spraypainted on it at a Catholic church in Melkbosstrand, which is about 30 kilometres outside of Cape Town.
This incident is now part of a developing case against a 16-year-old boy who was arrested on Thursday, 27 March 2025, and who was allegedly recruited into a terrorist organisation.
The teen faces charges of malicious damage to property and contravening the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (Pocdatara), commonly known as the Terrorism Act.
#sapsHAWKS Western Cape: A Juvenile, aged 16, was arrested on 27/03, by the multi-disciplinary intelligence led operational team comprising of the #Hawks' Crimes Against The State (CATS), Western Cape National Intervention Unit, Western Cape Bomb Disposal Unit and Western Cape… pic.twitter.com/fijVHyhFHZ
— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) March 27, 2025
While the finer details about the case have not yet been divulged, it has some echoes of another matter that played out years ago.
That case culminated in twins Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, of Johannesburg, pleading guilty in 2022 for previously trying to leave South Africa to try to join Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
In the developing matter, the teen appeared in the Atlantis Magistrate’s Court on the same day of his arrest and was released into the care of his parents.
He is expected back in the dock on Friday, 28 March, so that his legal representation can be sorted out.
Airport and adult club attack
Western Cape Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi said a joint operation including the Hawks’s Crimes Against the State officers, the bomb disposal team, and the national intervention unit, led to the teen’s arrest.
The matter appears to date back to 2023.
On 6 December that year a police team had conducted a search and seizure operation in Melkbosstrand.
Read more: Thulsie Twins case could provoke local extremists and radicalise more recruits, terror expert warns
“This was after information was received that a minor child was allegedly planning to attack the Cape Town International Airport and Mavericks Night Club after being radicalised and recruited by a terrorist organisation,” Vukubi said.
He did not name the organisation.
No traces of explosives were found during the Melkbosstrand search.
PlayStation and social media
However, electronic devices, including computer equipment, a cellphone, a PlayStation, and four gaming consoles, were seized for analysis.
“During the investigation, it was established that (the teen) participated in social media chat groups and was recruited to be an extremist,” Vukubi said.
“It was also established that the minor allegedly recruited another individual to assist him, and during November 2023, he destroyed the Statue of Mary at the Melkbosstrand Catholic Church by beheading and spray painting it with unfamiliar slogans.”
Read more: Red flagged: Terror-linked networks in South Africa a ticking time bomb
The case had been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions in Cape Town for a decision to be made on whether it should be pursued.
It was then escalated to the National Director of Public Prosecutions for a Pocdatara certificate to be issued, which Vukubi said was done on 6 March 2025.
This led to the teen’s arrest. DM