The shock and horror expressed by South Africa’s leaders at news of the murder of Marius “Vlam” van der Merwe ― the security company owner who testified at the Madlanga inquiry into corruption in the justice cluster — illustrates just how out of touch our political leadership is. The killing of whistle-blowers, the intimidation and murder of crime-fighters and ethical civil servants, has reached pandemic levels and is normalised because there is still no real long-term, systemic strategy to ensure their safety and to telegraph to the country that this sort of thing will be ruthlessly punished. Thousands of ethical civil servants and whistle-blowers are living in fear today because we hardly ever hear of criminal masterminds being arrested, prosecuted and jailed for their crimes.
Van der Merwe is just the latest of a long list of those who have been let down by lazy politicians who only react to headlines and fail spectacularly to effect systemic changes to avert disasters. When I heard the justice minister say, in the aftermath of this killing, that perhaps the Madlanga commission should not broadcast testimony by whistle-blowers and witnesses because it “puts their lives in danger”, I had to sigh. No, minister.
What puts witness’ lives in danger is that killers know that your government will botch investigations, muddle up prosecutions and generally ensure that perpetrators are not punished. The death of Van der Merwe will be off the front pages by the end of the week, leaving his family and close associates to mourn on their own. Just like the family of Mpho Mafole, the 47-year-old City of Ekurhuleni’s head of corporate and forensic audits who was gunned down in June while driving on the R23.
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We are living in a mafia state in which the corrupt know that, between an incapable state and a corrupt political class, they should never fear meeting the long arm of the law. This was a murder that could have been predicted on the day Van der Merwe gave his testimony and that could have been foretold the day he died. There may be some arrests in his murder, but the truth is that these killings are a disease and the masterminds behind them hardly ever get caught.
When the masterminds evade the law, when the society sees that crime pays and high crime pays even more, then the cycle of unaccountability we find ourselves in deepens and is perpetuated. Mafole had been in the job for only three months, and for sweeping clean as soon as he took over in his position, he was murdered in cold blood. Van der Merwe clearly intuited what lay ahead.
Just days before he was killed, he allegedly sent a voice note to eNCA’s Yusuf Abramjee requesting a platform to reveal what he knew. According to the television station, Van der Merwe told Abramjee that he was now willing to reveal his name and identity because he knew that his days were numbered. This is only shocking if you haven’t been following the news.
Just two days before Van der Merwe’s killing, at his gate and in front of his wife, a group of men were dramatically taken in for questioning at the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial while the court was in session. Police had learnt that there was an alleged plot to assassinate the judge and key prosecutors. Stop and think about that.
A group of men were scoping a court, plotting to kill a judge and the prosecutor, just to ensure justice is not done in the Senzo Meyiwa case. Where was the outrage last week at this blatant, horrifying act?
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