By Modibe Modiba
During an interview with NewzRoomAfrika, acquitted former minister of state security, advocate Bongani Bongo mentioned something very important. He mentioned how charges against those the system sees as not following their agenda are charged as they go, as if law enforcement is buying airtime.
Bongo said law enforcement agencies should investigate and charge individuals after conducting proper research and necessary investigations, but what we’ve seen is that our law enforcement has been used to fight political battles.
The agencies supposed to protect us, demanding justice, have now become a problem that they were established to deal with. We cannot have law enforcement agencies fighting factional party politics, working on rumours, media statements and a lack of evidence.
Let’s take the issue of Bongo. When rumours came out about his alleged corruption, a series of collaborated media statements came out, politicians masquerading as “constitutional experts” constantly fed us their biased opinion and a certain narrative was advanced. A picture was painted about the man that many knew very little about and the court of public opinion took its verdict. The man was guilty.
But as much as we can complain about the conduct of certain judges who rule based on media statements and public opinion, we must commend those in our fractured judiciary who stand behind the rule of law, proper procedures and evidence.
Western Cape Judge President JP Hlophe heard the matter and decided the State failed to provide evidence and prove their allegation. Now going back to the interview, Bongo mentioned how the charges against the secretary-general of the ANC, Ace Magushule, are politically motivated.
We're not saying don't report on Magashule, but report on Pravin Gordhan, Cyril Ramaphosa and John Steenhuisen the same as you report about Julius Malema, for example. Gordhan appoints his family members into boards and the media is quiet. What South Africans should constantly keep in mind is that this is not about Ace Magashule or President Cyril Ramaphosa, it’s about our law enforcement agencies.
Modibe Modiba is the Co-founder of The Insight.
The Star