The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has called for the immediate removal of State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo over her handling of the recent looting and unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

The red berets have accused her of deliberately misleading the public and Parliament about "non-existent" intelligence that she claimed cautioned state and government structures about the possibility of violent unrest.

"On 16 July 2021, the EFF wrote to Minister of State Security to provide evidence that her department possessed intelligence about the possible riots or activities instigating riots/unrest. This followed her public claims that [the State Security Agency, SSA] had intelligence, forwarded it to the SAPS and [Police] Minister Bheki Cele, yet nothing was done. She was quoted as saying: 'We analysed and packaged information for the client, we gave it to them. Minister Cele said that intelligence is driving operations. We gave SAPS all the information they needed to plan for these riots'," EFF spokesperson Vuyani Pambo said.

On Wednesday, the party said despite sending several follow-up questions about their concerns to Dlodlo, the minister had failed to respond.

The party added that such information was never shared or given to Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) despite claims that the SSA was in possession of such information.

"The implications of minister Ayanda Dlodlo's statement [are] that government knew about the possible blockade of roads and attacks on malls as instigations for a riot or public unrest, but elected to do nothing, which amounts to treason.

"Over 200 people lost their lives, and thousands more their livelihoods... If the government allowed this to happen, then it has perpetuated a crime against humanity and those responsible must be held accountable," Pambo said.

On Tuesday afternoon, Dlodlo told News24 intelligence products were always shared with relevant structures and not people.

"Intelligence is shared with the police and other structures all the time," she said.

"State Security has tabled the relevant reports to the relevant structures timeously."

On Tuesday, at the daily media briefing on the unrest, acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni also said intelligence reports were shared.

The EFF said Dlodlo and the SSA never had any intelligence which predicted the key events of what has been called an attempted insurrection.

The party claimed there was no intelligence report that warned about the blockades at the Mooi River Plaza on the N3 highway, the attacks on commercial centres and malls or even the marches by hostel dwellers.

They also did not send such a report to the SAPS or the minister of police, the party said.

"This is evidence of how dangerous minister Ayanda Dlodlo is to the national security and stability of our country. She is part of information peddlers who lie to our people to protect their utter incompetence," Pambo said.

"She has misled the public, and her officials in the SSA have deliberately misled Parliament in order to hide their utter incompetence and negligence.

"It is a fact that intelligence agencies of our country did not foresee any of the key events leading or sparking the riots," Pambo added.