Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The city offices of a senior air force officer have been damaged in a suspected fire-bomb attack.

The attack on the office of the commander of the Air Force College in Thaba Tshwane comes less than a month after a senior officer was shot and killed and another wounded.

College training co-ordinator Lieutenant-Colonel Authen Stevens (40) was killed when candidate officer Samuel Mandla Madonsela (37) allegedly went on a shooting spree after he was apparently told that he was failing his course. Lieutenant-Colonel Lesgaak Karan was critically injured.

The fire-bomb attack, according to senior staff at the college and in the Military Police, is believed to have occurred early on Monday morning when a device was thrown through the window of the office of college commander Colonel Sebenelo Lembede.

It is believed that a bottle containing petrol and a burnt piece of material were found in the office. A cupboard and curtains were damaged.

Military communication officers have played down any possible link to the shooting incident, saying “it would be speculation”.

But several senior air force personnel believe otherwise.

Only staff and students were on the premises and according to personnel the gates were locked at the time of the attack.

An officer, who asked not to be named, said some people were unhappy about what had happened with the shooting as well as the circumstances that had led up to it.

“This is not just an isolated incident. People are under a lot of pressure here and some are close to ‘snapping’,” he said.

Asked if it had anything to do with racism, the officer said it included that “and beyond”.

“People are upset and they are showing their anger.”

The SA Air Force yesterday confirmed that a case of arson was being investigated. SANDF spokesperson Colonel Petrus Motlhabane said the Military Police were investigating the matter.