Admirers of former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko swear he is innocent of corruption and that he’s a great engineer. There’s been no verdict against him, so I can’t speak with any authority on the first claim. As for the second, however, it is definitely true that this week Koko has invented — engineered, if you will — an entirely new strategy for other high-profile South Africans accused of a crime.
Until now, the standard approach by people like Jacob Zuma was the “Stalingrad Defence”, whereby they tried to grind down the prosecution through endless appeals and delays.
I must say I’ve always found this name somewhat dishonest, implying, as it does, that the defendant is the heroic Red Army dug in at Stalingrad and the prosecution is an invading force of genocidal fascists.
I know that most people don’t know their history much past the late 1990s, but still, I think it’s long overdue that instead of invoking brave soldiers willing to die for the Mother Russia we start calling the “Stalingrad Defence” what it is: the desperate flight of a coward who knows he’s guilty.
Now, all a current or future state captor needs to do to evade justice is to wait for the NPA to run out of food and water.
Koko, however, has rendered that entire issue obsolete, as he and 20 others saw their cases struck off the roll and ushered in the new, beautifully elegant replacement of the Stalingrad Defence.
Gone are the endless lawsuits, the millions you have to pay mounting defence after defence and appeal after appeal. Gone are the degrading public vendettas against journalists. Gone are the foundations you need to set up to pump out puff-pieces about you.
Now, all a current or future state captor needs to do to evade justice is to wait for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to run out of food and water. Which, given the funding priorities of Cyril Ramaphosa’s government, will start happening faster and faster.
To be fair, on Thursday the NPA assured the press that it would be re-enrolling Koko’s case; but without an exponential increase of its budget, what’s to say the same thing won’t happen all over again?
His supporters will no doubt call the whole thing a witch hunt and claim that any investigating team that fails to put together a serious case after seven years of digging is clearly going after an innocent man.
It’s a compelling emotional argument, and I understand why, when Koko posted a picture of himself walking away from the court, his fist triumphantly raised, many of his fans posting comments seemed to believe that he had been acquitted.
He hasn’t, but justice delayed is justice denied, which is why the Koko debacle should be sounding all kinds of alarms.
After all, what was the point of spending R1bn on the Zondo Commission if its findings can’t be acted on because the NPA doesn’t have the money to do its job? And what is the point of going after any villains in the future?
When the ANC crushed the Scorpions in 2009, civil society howled. Now the ANC is starving the NPA to death, but the time for howling is past. Now, the ANC must simply be voted out of power, before “justice delayed” because “justice denied” for an entire country.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.