Guptas, Bushiri blunder proves SA needs to get its own house in order

SA is in the habit of scoring international relations own goals, to the extent that not many other countries will take the government seriously on legal and diplomatic matters.

In July 2022, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola assured us all had been done in the country’s application to have brothers Atul and Rajesh Gupta’s extradition request considered by the United Arab Emirates.

Well, indeed everything had been done except for a little technical matter and keeping in touch with UAE about the progress.

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To Lamola’s “shock and dismay” the UAE dismissed that application over a month ago, but South Africa only found out last week.

Yes, the matter was out of Lamola’s hands and of the SA Consulate that side, but keeping tabs on South Africa’s biggest extradition request since the dawn of democracy should be the top priority.

The Guptas are accused of pulling off a heist so big it necessitated the establishment of a commission on state capture that sat for three years.

It can also be argued they were responsible for the early removal of a president in this country.

In other words, international fugitives do not come bigger than the Guptas, yet some people slept on the job.

The list of SA’s embarrassments on the international legal stage is huge.

The Guptas case runs parallel to that of Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri.

He quietly found a hole in our porous borders and left the country – most probably with millions of rands – to get to his home country and take on Lamola and his government’s attempts to have him brought back to appear in court.

Lamola reassures the country that the government has not given up on Bushiri but South Africans know by now theirs is a country that allows suspects to get away.

So, it was understandable that when escaped Facebook rapist Thabo Bester was apprehended in Tanzania, celebrations among South Africans were muted.

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“Let’s wait and see if Lamola and his crew don’t mess this up.”

This government has proven to be naive on international legal diplomatic issues and criminals and other countries know they can easily dribble their way past our all-trusting diplomatic officials.

South Africans will only truly be relieved when they see Bester and those who aided him appear in a SA court.

Lessons for Lamola, Police Minister Bheki Cele and commissioner of police Fannie Masemola must be that it is best to stop criminals from escaping jail in the first place but, most importantly, not to let suspects leave our borders because no matter how much they stress that Bester’s arrest was a result of international cooperation with the likes of Interpol, South Africans will roll their eyes and not believe their government is capable of successfully retrieving a suspected criminal anywhere in the world.

The Guptas and Bushiri may have pulled a fast one on South Africa but it is important that action is taken to avoid this country from remaining a joke to other countries.

It will take conscious effort on the part of government to firstly admit that SA is an easy country from which to evade justice.

Instead of “being shocked and dismayed” when other countries don’t help in extradition cases, SA needs to get its own house in order.

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