The man convicted of terrorism and related activities charges after making a series of bomb threats around the Bellville CBD last year has been sentenced to five years’ direct imprisonment.

The Bellville Regional Court handed down the sentence to 50-year-old Ferdinand Fortuin, who admitted to phoning police on 11 November 2024, claiming he had planted explosive devices at the Department of Water and Sanitation, Transnet Park Building, and the Bellville taxi rank. He gave officers a deadline to evacuate the sites.

According to his plea and sentencing agreement, Fortuin made the hoax threats after a Sunday night of heavy drinking. He later told the court he did not want to go to work the following Monday and had hoped that the threats would lead to road closures between his home in Mamre and Bellville.

Investigations revealed that Fortuin had bought a cellphone from a drug user to make the calls, including one to a toll-free emergency line. This led to a large-scale police response, with bomb disposal technicians, the K-9 Dog Unit, and visible policing members evacuating thousands of people from the targeted locations.

At the Water and Sanitation Department’s Voortrekker Road offices, 164 people were evacuated, while 151 were cleared from its Bellville South branch. Police also evacuated 250 people from the Transnet Park Building, and a further 3,000 from the Bellville taxi rank. The taxi rank’s closure, along with nearby roadblocks, caused widespread panic in the area.

Fortuin was arrested and charged with four counts under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorism and Related Activities Act (POCDATARA) and the Explosives Act.

The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Western Cape spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, says although the minimum prescribed sentence for such offences is 15 years, the court found substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from this.

The court considered Fortuin a first-time offender who pleaded guilty, expressed remorse, and was deemed a good candidate for rehabilitation. His three POCDATARA convictions were taken together for sentencing purposes.

Ntabazalila says the NPAs accepted the ruling but warned the public that such threats would be prosecuted vigorously, stressing that offenders will face tough consequences.

“The NPA will not hesitate to prosecute conduct of this nature to the full extent that the law allows,”

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