Exceptional feat by Wiener
not have been possible without the relationships they fostered with venal stakeholders within the police, State Security Agency, National Prosecuting Authority and Hawks.
Johann van Loggerenberg, who headed the South African Revenue Service’s High-risk Investigation Unit, later to become known as the “Rogue Unit”, tells Wiener: “Probably the biggest challenge in respect of organised crime in this country is the fact that the criminal justice system and its different parts do not function; they are not organised and they do not work as a single system.”
Amid this chaos, Krejcir was allowed to flourish, preying on the immoralities of bent state security personnel who were happy to take substantial backhanders in exchange for their co-operation.
Even prosecutors and magistrates are complicit as cases are dubiously struck off the roll, allowing the perpetrators to slip through the noose once more.
Wiener is masterful in painting a picture of the horse trading that occurs in security circles, where people like former crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli are manoeuvred to protect the interests of those in power, and how the affiliations are used to the benefit of syndicates.
Wiener excels in the meticulous presentation of facts, court testimonies and recorded interviews.
As she focuses on each subject, she provides the requisite information for readers to draw their own conclusions.
What is striking is that, despite the stakes being so high and every chance of crime bosses being imprisoned or “disappeared” in a hit, most are willing to give Wiener their version of events, sometimes in the presence of their lawyers, sometimes not.
It speaks to the character of the underworld masters that they seldom shy away from media attention, much like the US’ “Teflon Don”, the late John Gotti. It is only when they run out of options and their nefarious ties to crime intelligence lackeys are severed that they recoil, recognising that the game is fast drawing to a close.
To be able to pierce the psychologies of these players in what has proved to be a bloodthirsty game that has cost South Africa billions of rand is an exceptional feat on the part of Wiener.
One would imagine her research has come at great personal sacrifice, and every praise she is afforded is thoroughly deserved.
Ministry of Crime confirms her as the country’s pre-eminent nonfiction crime writer.