Even before it concluded its work, the Madlanga commission has given the nation an indication of the titanic, high-stakes conflict raging in the criminal justice system between criminals who want to usurp it and patriotic civil servants who try to hold the line.
According to evidence before the commission, the criminals are in cahoots with not just public servants, including senior police officials, but also with politicians. No less a personage than suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu has been placed at the heart of the dastardly enterprise to, in effect, take over the state. Not unexpectedly, Mchunu has denied all wrongdoing.
The commission does its work under a cloud of scepticism, with the public wondering whether its findings will be handled differently to those of the Zondo inquiry into state capture, where we have yet to see any significant prosecutions and convictions.
But what is the Madlanga commission for? It cannot be merely to provide national catharsis in a country whose citizens live under constant fear of criminals. Catharsis alone, with its illusion of problems being dealt with, will not stop evil people from doing bad things. What is needed is the effective prosecution and punishment of those who break the law — so others know that the probabilities of apprehension and sanction are high. Anything less can only encourage criminals to continue their nefarious activities in the knowledge they are unlikely to be brought to book.
The import of the commission, and what has so far been revealed before it, is to serve as a clarion call to the nation, to jolt it from its slumber, for its governors and lawmakers to take serious action to reverse a cancer devouring the criminal justice system, and ultimately the state itself.
It should reveal to the nation that it is, in the words of Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, in the midst of a war with a criminal underworld that seeks to subjugate society and control its institutions for its own criminal ends. A war whose casualties — including whistleblower Babita Deokaran, Ekurhuleni city auditor Mpho Mafole, detective Charl Kinnear and Madlanga commission witness Marius van der Merwe — are piling up.
The criminals don’t hesitate to order hits on anyone who stands in their way. Thanks to their seemingly bottomless pockets, they can buy anyone of influence, including current and former ministers. Without blinking, they can shell out bail of nearly half a million rand.
Prosecutions would serve to dispel a growing belief that the government uses commissions as a substitute for charging and punishing those who commit treasonable crimes against the country and its people
As the Tembisa Hospital saga has demonstrated, it is not only the police service that is targeted, but also other institutions meant to serve all citizens of the country, including those most in need.
With ructions in its top echelons, it is anyone’s guess whether the National Prosecuting Authority will be in a state to successfully put the big fish on trial. Its handling of the Zondo recommendations and other major cases, even before the departure of its unlamented head, Shamila Batohi, inspires little confidence.
The acid test for Madlanga will be whether President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government will have the political stomach to ensure the prosecution, without fear or favour, of those with a case to answer – irrespective of their political rank or connections. Such prosecutions would serve to dispel a growing belief that the government uses commissions as a substitute for charging and punishing those who commit treasonable crimes against the country and its people.
The heroes of the process are not Madlanga and his fellow commissioners, nor the eloquent evidence leaders. They are simply the midwives. Credit has to go to the witnesses who, at mortal threat to themselves, dare to testify and corroborate what Mkhwanazi claimed in a press conference that set the cat among the pigeons on July 6.
At his conference, Mkhwanazi, who soon enjoyed cult-hero status among a crime-weary public, alluded to the personal danger faced by those trying to push back against criminal influence in the state, for whom the threat of being killed is constantly present.
“We must worry about the safety of the citizens. So ours is to go out there and lay [down] our life to protect them. That is my only concern right now.
“Not about my safety. Everyone shall die [eventually],” Mkhwanazi said.
Giving evidence before the commission, a police officer named witness “B” for her protection, said between tears: “I will die peacefully knowing that what I was doing was the right thing and that the whole country knows what cause I died for.” She thanked Mkhwanazi for speaking up because those who tried “to do the right thing” were “dying one by one”.
The silver lining from the hearings has to be confirmation that patriotic individuals in the state can still tell right from wrong and are prepared to risk life and limb, for nothing in return, to resist creeping criminal influence in our public institutions and the undermining of the national interest.
Yet, given that before his July media conference Mkhwanazi had raised his concerns before parliament and made no headway, the question is whether, beyond Madlanga when South Africa has a new crisis to deal with, the good people in the state will be given a hearing when they blow the whistle — and the requisite protection and support.
As a country, we have reached a crossroads in our fight against crime. And with Mkhwanazi and Madlanga, we cannot say we have not been warned.
Among the villains of the saga are members of parliament’s ad hoc committee inquiring into the same scandal. While visiting Kgosi Mampuru prison to interview alleged key underworld figure “Cat” Matlala, some of them swooned over him. One even suggested to Matlala, who is in prison on charges including attempted murder, that he might become a role model to young boys.
If MPs, who are supposed to be on the side of law, can so easily be seduced by a man dripping in top brands from head to toe but facing grievous accusations, it means that our problems on the ethics and crime-fighting front are indeed many.
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