Pattern of justice meltdown can no longer be ignored

Claims about arson at Waterkloof may be baseless but they spread like wildfire because we’ve seen too many political flames in the past six months.

Since the obvious sabotage during the July riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, strategically symbolic incidents assume added significance. Without proof, the blaze at parliament is attributed to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s
factional opponents in the ANC.

An arrested suspect is depicted either as a confused vagrant or a trained operative, both options somehow in the pay of former president Jacob Zuma’s radical economic transformation (RET) supporters. A break-in at the SABC and the hammer-smashing of Constitutional Court windows are also subject to conspiratorial interpretation. Even the explosion at Medupi power station, seven days after opening, can be added to the plot.

The collision of two new Prasa trains can also be thrown into the sabotage mix. This is all part of the RET plot to undermine Ramaphosa’s administration, isn’t it? Well, not necessarily.

Ramaphosa may have had enough information to label July’s events a “failed insurrection”. We don’t know because he has not shared such information. But there is no undisputed evidence to link any of the other incidents to what happened in July. Perhaps all are merely signs of SA’s deterioration through incompetence and negligence.

Recently, I canvassed professional opinions about criteria used to determine whether a fire can be attributed to arson. The detail need not concern us. The point is, it’s seldom a simple matter to be able to say a fire was started deliberately. Much has to be scrutinised and a checklist completed before a qualified person will be able to declare arson has been committed.

Such considerations did not matter to Twitter “experts” on Sunday. As soon as the first pictures emerged of smoke and flames at Air Force Base Waterkloof, the Twitter jury joined dots stretching back to July.

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While such a rush to judgment is wrong, it is also understandable. Far too much is left unresolved by the government, police, prosecutors and, indeed, the whole justice system. We are still waiting for July’s genuine ringleaders to be named, arrested and prosecuted.

The same applies to the big fish implicated in state capture. Apart from Ace Magashule, where are the prominent arrests? Similarly, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s death in December elicited reminders that many people named at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have never been brought to justice.

They probably never will be. There is a pattern where truth and justice simply melt away. Apathy and incompetence,
laced with criminality, reduce proceedings to a pace glacial enough to induce amnesia. Yet some of us don’t want to forget all these things which have never been explained.

So, we concoct theories to make sense of it all. We don’t really know, by name, who was behind the July riots, or who started the fires at parliament and Waterkloof – or whether these are connected.

Given the SA way justice doesn’t work, we may never know what the blazes is going on.