Solve the burglaries
TEDITOR’S VIEW HERE’S an eerie synchronicity between the Constitutional Court’s intervention in the social grants morass last Thursday and the slick burglary at the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) in Midrand on Saturday morning.
The Constitutional Court severely criticised Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini, publicly branding her incompetent and uncaring, potentially making her personally liable for millions of rand in legal fees associated with the court action. The Concourt put the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) under its curatorship.
Two days later, 15 computers were stolen from the OCJ’s human resources department in Midrand. Nothing else was taken.
It is interesting that the computers hold personal details of the country’s 250 judges and judicial officers, who their dependants are and where they live.
It is an unprecedented breach of privacy, one that is intimidating as it leaves the judges vulnerable to attack – physically and emotionally – if the details land up in criminal hands.
There’s also the unspoken narrative of what message this kind of brazen burglary sends to the rest of the world about the safety of ordinary citizens if an office as significant as this cannot be protected.
It tends to underscore the growing belief that this was no ordinary burglary, but rather a far more sinister operation designed to render the judiciary vulnerable to outside pressure. Taken in tandem with the unsolved break-in at the Helen Suzman Foundation’s offices, the slow murmur of suspicion becomes a cacophony of paranoia.
In that case, the offices were burgled almost exactly a year ago and its computers stolen as the foundation prepared court papers to interdict the appointment of Major-General Berning Ntlemeza as the head of the Hawks – a decision ironically upheld by the Constitutional Court last Friday.
It is difficult to believe that the burglaries are anything but concerted, cynical attempts to muzzle independent watchdogs.
The only way to disprove this is to find the criminals and bring them to book – promptly. Anything less plays to the increasingly loud narrative of a country at war with itself. A country where those who disagree with the powers that be are targeted.
Such appears to be the case with former Department of Social Development directorgeneral Zane Dangor, who resigned in a huff over the Sassa contract debacle. Robbers invaded his house, claiming he had sent them to fix something. They went through it but took nothing. This raises eyebrows and, like the other burglaries, it needs to be thoroughly looked into. Was a message being sent to Dangor and judicial officers perhaps?
In a democratic country this cannot be allowed.