SA is fast becoming a gangster state. The big cover-ups around the Arms Deal, Travelgate and Oilgate were a sign of things to come and the current onslaught against the Public Protector (PP) and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is a continuation of the country's rapid slide into its Zanufication.
Add to this the Protection of Information Bill and the proposal for a Media Tribunal then the KGB looks amateurish in comparison. Now is the time for eternal vigilance and this column is a call to the public to do its utmost to support Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, and Special Investigator, Willie Hofmeyer.
With political pedigrees such as theirs, they are eminently qualified for their jobs. They have performed their duties without fear or favour and have remained uncontaminated by power and the glitz and glamour of public life. Madonsela is a highly trained human and constitutional rights lawyer with a CV that belies her experience.
Prior to 1994, she carved a niche for herself as a young lawyer who shone a lamp with her feminist research on making a case for women's legal and human rights, the rights of victims, equality legislation and much more. Similarly, Hofmeyer has always been impeccably honest and ‘clean', a loyal citizen, carrying out his investigations with dedicated rigour.
If you are white and courageous as Hofmeyer, exposing corruption in both the public and private sphere, you are bound to become Enemy No 1. As for Madonsela, an insider and a black woman to boot, she refuses to know her place so she must be capped at the knees. Killing the messenger that brings the good news is what our criminal justice cluster does best - KGB-style.
Casting aspersions on the integrity of both Madonsela and Hofmeyer before the release of her report investigating the irregular R500 million-tender between Bheki Cele's office and Roux Shabangu concerning Police headquarters, is typical of what gangster states do.