Smoke and mirrors

Politics, and all the sideshows that go with it, is mostly the art of confusion and often that of deception. When it comes to confusion (or deception?), developments in South Africa this past week, certainly took the first prize.

Both also seem to be ingredients of the metaphor “smoke and mirrors.” Wikipedia defines smoke and mirrors as “a metaphor for a deceptive, fraudulent or insubstantial explanation or description. The source of the name is based on magicians' illusions, where magicians make objects appear or disappear by extending or retracting mirrors amid a confusing burst of smoke.”

Should you Google the phrase “smoke and mirrors” it becomes patently clear that most of the world – including most of Africa – is covered in smoke and seen only in magical mirrors.

What made the past week so confusing – or deceitful – is that a number of South African political certainties (if such a thing actually exists) were turned upside down and dumped unceremoniously into the uncertain realm of smoke and mirrors.

For many months we have been led to believe that Menzi Simelane, South Africa’s prosecuting boss, takes his orders directly from the Union Buildings and will not bite the political hand that feeds him. For many months too we have been led to believe that the ruling ANC’s youth leader Julius Malema is untouchable.

We were further led to believe that young Julius is firmly backed by the “nationalist capitalists” of the ANC, people like mining mogul and lately Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, or ANC money man Mathews Phosa. And, for many months we have also been led to believe that South Africa’s new super cops, known as the Hawks, have neither wings nor teeth.

For a long time it was also a political certainty that no-one in a position of power in South Africa was vaguely interested in truly wanting to tackle the scourge of corruption. We were also told there was no corruption worth mentioning or prosecuting when it came to South Africa’s notorious multi-billion-dollar arms deal. Case closed.

Misperceptions

Today we can reveal that it was all misperceptions at best, smoke and mirrors ­– probably mostly a deception practised by the media, those arch magicians and fakers of the truth.

For this past week both National Prosecuting Authority chief Simelane and the Hawks went after a number of people allegedly connected to a R44 million fraud, corruption and money laundering case, some of whom are well connected high up in the ANC and for a while seemed to be untouchable.

A few days ago it emerged that the Hawks had arrested KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and the province’s Speaker, Peggy Nkonyeni in terms of the controversial warrants issued against them by Simphiwe Mlotshwa, provincial director of public prosecutions, allegedly on the instructions of National Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelane several weeks ago.

The warrants had been issued, retracted and re-issued, giving rise to speculation that political shenanigans at high level were shielding the pair against prosecution.

Now the two, who have both served as ANC treasurers in the KwaZulu-Natal political powerbase of President Jacob Zuma, have apparently been arrested and were to appear in court this week. And, it is said, two further new accused, ANC bookkeeper Delani Mzila and former KwaZulu-Natal health department head Dr Ronald Green-Thompson, will join the original accused who include Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi; former KZN treasury boss Sipho Shabalala and his wife, Ntombi; and former health boss Busi Nyembezi.

Savoi in turn is linked to Northern Cape ANC strong man John Bock, who also was charged recently. Bock, it was rumoured, also has good standing politically all the way up to the Presidency.

But last week it became clear that these political connections were not going to stand in the way – finally – of either the Hawks or the dapper Simelane. In fact Simelane even poured some very cold water on the claims that KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize, a man rumoured to have a personal hotline to President Zuma, would escape prosecution in the multi-million-rand Intaka fraud by testifying for the state.

Enter confusion

But here is where confusion again enters. For Willie Hofmeyr, the head of the Asset Forfeiture and Special Investigative units, is said to have wrangled with Simelane over the potential success merits of the case against Mabuyakhulu and Nkonyeni and is said to have opposed the issuing of warrants for their arrest. That, it is said, led to the tensions between Hofmeyr and Simelane, which apparently caused Simelane to order a Hawks investigation of Hofmeyr.

Hofmeyr, of course, was also busy with his own investigation of the irregular and illegal police office building lease deal which recently led to the Public Protector fingering Police Commissioner Bheki Cele and Public Works Minister Gwen Mhlangu-Nkabinde. Both are said to be close to the president and the inner power circle of the ANC.

Be that as it may, also this past week Hawks chief Anwar Dramat – surprise, surprise – effectively reopened the investigation into the arms deal after the admission of Swedish arms manufacturer Saab that millions had been paid in bribes for the South African contracts. That after Simelane, advised by the Hawks, had canned the investigation and closed the case, causing a collective sigh of relief in high political and business places.

Now the reopened probe, together with another running court case involving senior bankers, threatens to expose the corrupt activities of senior politicians and businessmen going back to 1992.

This further led to a very strange thing: both the ANC chairman of parliament's standing committee on public accounts, Themba Godi, and the opposition Democratic Alliance's defence spokesman David Maynier praised Dramat for his "brave" decision. Later they differed though over just how deep Dramat will be probing.

Malema

As if these developments are not strange enough in themselves, Malema, a man previously considered to be untouchable, may now also be probed by the Hawks following media revelations of his “secret” trust, his multi-million property deals on a salary of R25,000 to R50,000 per month, and the alleged tenderpreneurial rags to riches stories of some of his close business associates and friends. That certainly should count as an occasion for rain.

And finally, two ANC “capitalist nationalists” who in the past seemed to like Malema a lot and were alleged to have backed, or even controlled him, Sexwale and Phosa, last week turned on the beleaguered Julius, stomping heavily on his calls for nationalisation and land seizures. What a strange world we live in.

Which brings one to the strangest part of it all – the absolute silence maintained by the Presidency on all of these matters. Could all of this therefore perhaps just be another case of smoke and mirrors? Or has the magician’s hand finally been arrested?

Stef Terblanche