The Star Early Edition

A puzzling unsolved murder

- FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni

THE murder of Senzo Meyiwa, its political ramificati­ons, the legal quagmire the investigat­ions are deeply entrenched in, and the scope and depth of the allegation­s and counterall­egations read like chapters from a John le Carré thriller.

What is dramatical­ly unfolding is not-fiction but a bizarre chain of events that defies logic and a sense of rationale. The entire issue is shrouded in an impenetrab­le veil, a fog of fleeting silhouette­s, that appear and disappear in a hazy political background.

When two or more people present at the crime scene maintain an eerie silence, rest assured that a huge conspiracy is in progress. Is there a cover-up in progress and at what depth is there a higher involvemen­t?

With the amount of expertise available to law enforcemen­t, this murder could have been solved years ago.

It is a proven historical fact that conspiracy theories thrive in polarising political climates; they do not emerge in a vacuum. The current political crisis and chaos in the ANC is a classic example.

Sadly what we are witnessing is a form of social media warfare, where conspiracy theories spread faster than the salient facts. Many government­s have resorted to conspiracy theories to distract from their own failures to

pre-empt criticism.

Science, forensics, evidence and criminal technology can prove the events that took place on October 26, 2014. There is a litany of theories, some overlappin­g and reinforcin­g, some contradict­ory, all of them useful in understand­ing the shadowy power of the conspiracy theory in the 21st century.

It is under certain circumstan­ces a way for some to exert control over or within unstable, complex systems.

The devastatio­n caused by the murder of a brilliant soccer icon provides fertile ground for conspiraci­es to thrive in an atmosphere where truth remains an elusive commodity; the expanding narrative is driven by falsehoods.

 ?? African News Agency ?? THOUSANDS gathered at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban to pay their last respects to Senzo Meyiwa. |
African News Agency THOUSANDS gathered at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban to pay their last respects to Senzo Meyiwa. |

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