Mampara of the week: Berning Ntlemeza
Pravin Gordhan, still finance minister at the time of writing this, might have thought his days of being harassed by apartheid cops were over. But not so fast, comrade. Enter Berning Ntlemeza, the apartheid-era policeman who heads up the Hawks. Ntlemeza is a one-man economy wrecking ball. Just about every time he opens his mouth, the currency goes into free fall. This week he was at it again, summoning Gordhan and other former South African Revenue Service officials to present themselves for a "warning statement" arising from the SARS spy unit. Just a few months ago Ntlemeza said the minister wasn't a suspect. Now he's not so sure. Human rights lawyers say Ntlemeza is a threat to democracy. So does the SACP, which should know a threat to democracy when it sees one...
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