The Madlanga Commission has moved from a trend of corruption to one of sick notes and 'embarrasing' arrests.
Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo at the Madlanga Commission Of Inquiry. Picture: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
There have been at least 20 people linked to the Madlanga Commission arrested since the inquiry was formed a year ago. So naturally, the spotlight is quickly and quietly turning to how they were handcuffed.
Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Andrea Johnson this week appeared before the commission, looking into alleged corruption in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. It was a long-awaited testimony after she called in sick at the 11th hour last week.
She was fine when she appeared on Tuesday, and her sick note, which had come under scrutiny previously, was quickly papered over. Maybe this was likely to stop it becoming a sideshow.
Do you know who I am?
Sadly, the sideshow can never be stopped in a room filled with narcissists, and so a sidebar soon developed on just how embarrassing the arrest of South Africa’s Crime Intelligence Head, Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo, was.
Khumalo was arrested by Idac in the presence of his bodyguards while making his way through OR Tambo International Airport.
The debate around his arrest was a few minutes short of “on a scale of 1-10, how embarrassed do you think Khumalo was by having to be arrested?”
You see, the last thing the powerful and those who think they are untouchable want is to be held accountable for breaking the law. And if they must, heavens forbid, they be treated like a common criminal.
It’s an unwritten law that, unless the person you are beefing with is more powerful than you, you are not seen in handcuffs, and you never stay overnight in holding cells.
Even when released on bail or recovering from an “assassination attempt”, those with influence are taken to “safety” rather than “Sun City” prison.
Protecting the powerful: a legacy
More than two years ago, former Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula stood in the dock on corruption and money laundering charges, talking about how horrible prison was and how her arrest was trumped up to make her look bad.
Before her, her ex-boss Jacob Zuma was so appalled by the thought of being a prisoner again for contempt of court that it literally made him sick. Poor guy.
Distraction
All of this distracts from the real point of the Madlanga Commission and so many other mechanisms like it: accountability.
Every minute the commission runs costs taxpayers money, and all the time spent nursing feelings is racking up a bill that could be better used uncovering corruption.
As commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga reminded Johnson this week, the documents and evidence that many are trying to conceal are needed to unravel the web of corruption in this country and, crucially, belong to the people of South Africa.
Officials, whether politicians, law enforcement or municipal managers and accountants, serve the public, not themselves.
And when the head of the country’s unit fighting high-profile corruption is herself under a cloud of alleged corruption, it is hard for anyone to have sympathy for her, or anyone else who has built their “success” on the back of exploitation and criminality.
Maybe when reality hits – whether because they lost their jobs, lost an election, or are in overalls- they will realise they bleed just like you and I.
And there are far worse things to be embarrassed about.
