Three recent developments reported in the local media sent a chill down my spine, and reminded me once again, how delicately poised we are as a nation in terms of our future path.
The first was that the prosecutor who is appointed to act for the state against the secretary general (SG) of the ruling party Ace Magashule, had suffered a burglary at his personal Bloemfontein residence, the second was incidents intimidation against an advocate in the Zondo Commission, and the last, the importation of a Cuban Covid-19 vaccine directly by the South African Defence Force (SANDF), in contravention of a slew of laws controlling medicine, and in deep secrecy.
Considering the first, while some items of value were taken, the timing of the incident, and the frank remarks from the Saps officials who viewed it more as an intention to intimidate the homeowner than for monetary gain, make is inescapable not to infer a link to the corruption trial of the SG.
It is a chilling thought that supporters of the SG could consider blatantly embarking on such thuggish behaviour, and it was telling that no comment was forthcoming from the SG or his representatives either condemning or denying the incident.
Our descent into the ‘Gangster State’ author Pieter-Louis Myburgh described in his recent book of the same title seems inevitable, if intimidation of members of our judicial system involved in cases against the political elite, can occur without consequence.
Secondly, were reports that one of the advocates acting for the Zondo Commission had been subjected to unauthorised surveillance, and had also been the target of a smear campaign on social media platforms.
The advocate in particular was reported to be working on the steps the chair of the commission was implementing against former President Zuma’s recent walkout from the hearings, in defiance of a summons in force.
The willingness of certain sectors to resort to unlawful means and intimidation to get their way should give us all sleepless nights.
Then we have the case of the SANDF: it transpires that they have purchased around R200m worth of a Covid-19 vaccine from a Cuban government owned entity, without obtaining the requisite approvals from the Medicines Control Council, or the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAPHRA).
More alarmingly, the products were ‘smuggled’ into the country using falsified import documentation, which implies that the flouting of these controls was deliberate.
When you get security forces in a country acting as if they are above the laws and rules, this becomes extremely concerning. We need be cautioned by the lessons of some of our neighbours where the military operates in large areas of the economy (particularly mining) to the exclusive benefit of the top brass.
Vijay Naidoo writes in his personal capacity as CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, he joined the family construction business as MD for 10 years.
He subsequently joined his sister in their furniture manufacturing business as director for quality assurance and operations. He was responsible for all quality aspects of their products, and led the project to the business achieving an ISO 9000 quality accreditation. As an export focused business, this was important for our international competitiveness.
Mr Naidoo has an abiding interest in quality management and productivity improvement, particularly in manufacturing.
More recently, he has focused a lot of his time on giving back to the community by way of mentorship of small businesses and sitting on the executive of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also sits on the Board of the Ugu South Coast Development Agency.
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