Our president seemingly loves nothing more than a Commission of Inquiry. But our country’s democratic history has shown they’re nothing more than exercises in futility and a financial burden. Gasant Abarder argues in this #SliceOfGasant column that the accused should be put through the very same criminal justice system we’re all subjected to – spending months awaiting trial on bail or in jail.
The theme song of Carte Blanche to give you the proper Sunday night blues ahead of an angst-filled Monday at work has given way to family meetings with President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce more toothless commissions of inquiry.
So far, these commissions have had limited success, netting successful prosecutions of small fish in big ponds. The last one, the Zondo Commission into State Capture, is reported to have cost a cool R1-billion.
Now we’re going to have another one into the conduct of a police commissioner asked to take special leave with his deputy in tow. The question for the ages: if there is enough prima facie evidence to ask a whole police commissioner and his deputy to vacate their posts, why have they not been arrested? Why call another commission of inquiry? Is there no faith in our criminal justice system?
The answer is a short no. The reason the Zondo recommendations have shown limited success is because of capacity issues with the National Prosecution Authorities and the police investigations team. The Hawks may as well be renamed the Lame Ducks.
So, instead of the head PC Plod and his deputy being arrested and remanded into custody until a formal bail hearing in court, they’re put on special leave, and the deputy has the gall to ostensibly say in the face of the commission of inquiry: bring it on!
No, Joe Public, we’re not equal in the eyes of the law. You will be jailed for that unpaid traffic fine from 2023, but the police commissioner will sit it out at home.
If the president were serious, there are a few commissions of inquiry I can think of that would be pretty useful. How about one into cartel behaviour and price gouging by food retailers? A commission of inquiry into gang violence on the Cape Flats is much needed. Can we have one for why traffic lights are always out at a major intersection on Robert Sobukwe Road? We also need to take a good, hard look at how Gwede Mantashe gets away with wearing such ill-fitting suits.
The first such public hearings were the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The trade-off was that if you spoke the truth as a hero or villain, you’d escape prosecution. But there were many who didn’t tell families of the horrors they perpetrated against loved ones in the name of an evil government.
Recently, people like author and journalist Lukhanyo Calata had to lobby for many years to have his father, Fort Calata, and the rest of the Cradock Four’s murder investigation reopened in the form of an inquest. Freedom fighter Ashley Kriel’s killer is still walking around free. The family of Imam Abdullah Haron are still waiting for justice for the murder of the cleric.
When I next engaged with a commission of inquiry, I was a fully-fledged journalist, and it involved a man who could do no wrong and could walk on water. He was at once a hero and a nation builder who did some pretty bombastic things on cricket fields.
One of those bombastic things, he admitted in a tearful confession at the King Commission, was that he took money and a leather jacket to manipulate matches. It was bad, but not to the extent of the billions we’ve stolen since we achieved freedom.
The late Hansie Cronjé got banned for life for indiscretions and was made an example of, while others who participate in now legal spread betting still get to play the game. He was wrong and got the punishment he deserved for telling the truth – albeit belatedly and blaming the Devil.
Now we read headlines that the cabinet will have lifestyle audits. It’s a few decades late, huh? How about also looking at the qualifications of those who hold the highest office? How does it make sense that the rest of us in corporates and the professional services of government need to have university degrees, while matric is sufficient for those barking out the orders? What happened to the signing of those service level agreements for ministers to deliver?
That is the commission we really need.
Stop wasting our time and public funds with commissions and arresting criminals who steal from the hardworking people of this country. They produce sweet bugger all!
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Picture: The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa
