EDITOR’S NOTE
You can accuse South Africa of many things, but boring it is not.
Take this week.
It began with President Jacob ZZuma springing a surprise on the country, announcing his old chum Willem Heath as head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
This effectively banished the much-lauded and respected Willie Hofmeyr to the periphery of the state’s criminal justice system, rendering him a harmless poodle.
Predictably, the commentariat went on speculation overdrive, suggesting the appointment was yet another brick in the security cluster edifice the president was allegedly building to consolidate his position in government with an eye to securing his re-election as head of the ANC in 12 months.
The theory goes that with known allies manning key posts in the security/criminal/justice cluster, Zuma is making sure that the corruption charges against him – controversially dropped in 2009 before they were tested in open court – would never be revived.
True or not, Zuma, by way of his actions, tends to fuel speculation that his key appointments always have a self-serving, ulterior motive.
He has tended to pick people who are known to be warm towards him or who served him well when he was in the political wilderness following his dismissal from government by then president Thabo Mbeki.
Mbeki used the conviction on corruption charges of Zuma’s friend and financial adviser Schabir Shaik as a pretext to sack him.
It would appear that since that traumatic experience Zuma has been careful with his selection of his kitchen cabinet. His choices are illuminating.
Bheki Cele to head the police service; Menzi Simelane as boss of the National Prosecuting Authority; Mac Maharaj as adviser and spokesman; Michael Hulley as presidential legal adviser; Mogoeng Mogoeng as chief justice; Jeff Radebe as justice minister and now Heath to head the SIU.
But, as is sometimes the case, the best-laid plans can go awry.
Cele at some point seems to have fallen out of presidential favour, probably for being too friendly to ambitious men perceived to covet the presidency of the ANC and thus the country.
Suspended from duty, Cele is facing a police board inquiry over allegations of malfeasance relating to the lease of police office space.
As if the man did not have enough on his plate, it’s now being suggested that his elevation of certain people to lucrative posts in the police service is curious. A probe has been launched. Talk about putting the knife in when the man is down.
But back to the republic being a politically exciting place.
Zuma’s appointment of Simelane was on Thursday ruled “inconsistent with the constitution” and invalid by the Supreme Court of Appeal, raising serious questions about the legality of the chief prosecutor’s decisions since he took office.
Never a dull moment in our fair land.
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World Aids day has served to remind us that we have made great strides in the fights against the spread of HIV/Aids. The situation is still dire, but it’s not the runaway fire it was in the days of government denialism and obfuscation.
A lot of energy, not to mention a fortune, has been expended on prevention campaigns for the uninfected and the provision of antiretroviral drugs for those living with the disease.
But government and the NGOs can only do so much. Ultimately, it’s each individual’s personal behaviour that will turn the tide.
One has sympathy with rape victims and spouses who, owing to power relations, are not able to insist on the use of protection and get infected by their partners.
But years after the alarm was first sounded on the killer stalking the land, the infection rate would suggest some people still recklessly engage in unsafe sex even when they have the tools to protect themselves.
Such failure to take responsibility for one’s actions is difficult to understand when family and friends are dying in the thousands in our midst.
