‘Terrorist activity’, with reference to this section and sections 2, 3 and 17 (2), means-
(a) any act committed in or outside the Republic, which-
(i) involves the systematic, repeated or arbitrary use of violence by any means
or method;
(ii) involves the systematic, repeated or arbitrary release into the environment
or any part of it or distributing or exposing the public or any part of it to-
(aa) any dangerous, hazardous, radioactive or harmful substance or
organism;
(bb) any toxic chemical; or
(cc) any microbial or other biological agent or toxin;
(iii) endangers the life, or violates the physical integrity or physical freedom of, or
causes serious bodily injury to or the death of, any person, or any number of
persons;
(iv) causes serious risk to the health or safety of the public or any segment of the
public;
(v) causes the destruction of or substantial damage to any property, natural
resource, or the environmental or cultural heritage, whether public or
private;
(vi) is designed or calculated to cause serious interference with or serious
disruption of an essential service, facility or system, or the delivery of any
such service, facility or system, whether public or private, including, but not
limited to-
(aa) a system used for, or by, an electronic system, including an information
system;
(bb) a telecommunication service or system;
(cc) a banking or financial service or financial system;
(dd) a system used for the delivery of essential government services;
(ee) a system used for, or by, an essential public utility or transport
provider;
(ff) an essential infrastructure facility; or
(gg) any essential emergency services, such as police, medical or civil
defence services;
(vii) causes any major economic loss or extensive destabilisation of an economic
system or substantial devastation of the national economy of a country; or
(viii) creates a serious public emergency situation or a general insurrection in the
Republic, whether the harm contemplated in paragraphs (a) (i) to (vii) is or may be suffered
in or outside the Republic, and whether the activity referred to in subparagraphs
(ii) to (viii) was committed by way of any means or method; and
(b) which is intended, or by its nature and context, can reasonably be regarded as
being intended, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to-
(i) threaten the unity and territorial integrity of the Republic;
(ii) intimidate, or to induce or cause feelings of insecurity within, the public, or a
segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic
security, or to induce, cause or spread feelings of terror, fear or panic in a
civilian population; or
(iii) unduly compel, intimidate, force, coerce, induce or cause a person, a
government, the general public or a segment of the public, or a domestic or
an international organisation or body or intergovernmental organisation or
body, to do or to abstain or refrain from doing any act, or to adopt or abandon
a particular standpoint, or to act in accordance with certain principles,whether the public or the person, government, body, or organisation or institution referred to in subparagraphs (ii) or (iii), as the case may be, is inside or outside the Republic; and
(c) which is committed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, for the purpose of the advancement of an individual or collective political, religious, ideological or
philosophical motive, objective, cause or undertaking; ‘terrorist and related activities’ means any act or activity related to or associated or,connected with the commission of the offence of terrorism, or an offence associated or connected with a terrorist activity, or a Convention offence, or an offence referred to in sections 11 to 14.
(2) For purposes of this Act, ‘act’ includes ‘omission’.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (a) (vi) and (vii) of the definition of ‘terrorist activity’, any act which is committed in pursuance of any advocacy, protest, dissent or industrial action and which does not intend the harm contemplated in paragraph (a) (i) to (v) of that definition, shall not be regarded as a terrorist activity within the meaning of that definition.
(4) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act or any other law, any act committed during a struggle waged by peoples, including any action during an armed struggle, in the exercise or furtherance of their legitimate right to national liberation, self-determination and independence against colonialism, or occupation or aggression or domination by alien or foreign forces, in accordance with the principles of international law, especially international humanitarian law, including the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the said Charter, shall not, for any reason, including for purposes of prosecution or extradition, be considered as a terrorist activity, as
defined in subsection (1).
(5) Notwithstanding any provision in any other law, and subject to subsection (4), a
political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any similar motive, shall not be considered for any reason, including for purposes of prosecution or extradition, to be a justifiable defense in respect of an offence of which the definition of terrorist activity forms an integral part.
(6) For the purposes of this Act a person has knowledge of a fact if-
(a) the person has actual knowledge of that fact; or
(b) the court is satisfied that-
(i) the person believes that there is a reasonable possibility of the existence of
that fact; and
(ii) he or she fails to obtain information to confirm the existence of that fact.
(7) For the purposes of this Act a person ought reasonably to have known or suspected a fact if the conclusions that he or she ought to have reached, are those which would have been reached by a reasonably diligent and vigilant person having both-
(a) the general knowledge, skill, training and experience that may reasonably be
expected of a person in his or her position; and
(b) the general knowledge, skill, training and experience that he or she in fact has.
Source: SA Police Services Website https://www.saps.gov.za/resource_centre/acts/downloads/juta/terrorism_act.pdf
Views: 1075