In the hierarchy of crimes it is the murderer who is regarded with particular distaste and in the pantheon of murderers there is none who evokes quite as much horror as the poisoner.
There is, therefore, something inevitable about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission winding up its work with the disclosure of a poisoning conspiracy by servants of the state. As is observed elsewhere in this newspaper, it is the ultimate obscenity of apartheid rule.
The particular prejudice we nurse towards poisoners is born of the surreptitious nature of their craft. It is the most sinister form of murder, because it is the epitome of stealth, its instrument designed to avoid detection – whether slipped from the secret cavity of a Borgia’s ring, in the tradition of that most hated family of bishops, or fired from an umbrella in the ironic manner of more recent times.
There is virtually no defence against such killers, which is perhaps why, when they are discovered, they are so often found to be practised at their trade. A watchdog which warns of the poisoner’s approach is a treasure which even emperors would have valued.
We had such a watchdog once. And, in one of the supreme ironies of the apartheid saga, we may be about to discover that we stood idly by while the poisoners put it to death before our very eyes. Its name, of course, was Vrye Weekblad, that gallant little newspaper edited by Max du Preez which set the truth commission about its work – by its early exposure of the government assassins – and was in effect slaughtered in our courts with a libel action brought by a servant of the state.
As we go to the printers, that same public servant, the former police forensic chief, General Lothar Neethling, is due to enter the witness box to answer allegations that he was on most intimate terms with the nest of poisoners who seemingly operated from that hellish kitchen known as the Roodeplaat Research Laboratories.
We cannot, of course, anticipate his evidence. And we can only hope that the commissioners will in time penetrate the defensive ramparts hurriedly constructed by the Roodeplaat conspirators – from the very volumes of our Bill of Rights – and succeed in teasing out the truth about this particularly dark period in the history of the nation.
But we would do well in the meanwhile to welcome the sound of the watchdog’s bark at night, be it only at phantoms. For though the realisation comes a little late, we should know now that the price exacted by the disturbance of our slumbers is well worth the paying, that we may otherwise sleep safe at night.
Markets are gutting development
Some people just don’t know how to say thank you. It’s ironic that Absa bank led the stampede to raise interest rate hikes this week.
They were after all the recipients of Reserve Bank largesse in the form of a massive lifeboat in the Eighties. Not that the rest won’t follow like a pack of dominoes, as has been the practice in the past.
South African banks are a notorious cartel for which competitive interest rates (the norm in many countries) are almost foreign. Absa led the fray with a two percentage point hike – the highest this year – where many had hoped that we would have had a cut of the same magnitude by the end of the year.
South Africa’s real interest rate of 12% (after inflation) is now at its highest ever. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel had predicted it would be at 4% by the end of the year. Ministerial appeals to the banking industry to hold off on the hike fell on deaf ears. One is almost tempted to say “goed so” to Manuel, who has ignored persistent calls to relax the grip on monetary policy.
But the man must already be reeling, wondering what on earth he’s done to the markets. Could it be that they’re still punishing him for that famous comment about them being “amorphous”?
Not really. They’ve just lost confidence in “emerging markets”, sending economies like ours reeling, and making Reserve Bank governors like Chris Stals put on the brakes.
He should stop. The interest rate hike is bad news for growth prospects where forecasts are downgraded everyday. It is bad news for new jobs which higher growth could create, for investors who want to put productive money into our economy, and for consumers for whom the cost of money becomes prohibitively high.
Stals, a man who knows the markets are not amorphous, will glibly answer that the prevailing international economy is forcing his hand and that hiking interest rates will ensure the confidence of the markets. Nonsense – we’ve tried that before.
It’s time for inspired leadership to move to protect our economy from the fickle money which wreaks havoc every time it moves in and out, bringing with it despair, uncertainty and instability.
And it’s not old-fashioned lefty-speak here. The likes of George Soros and World Bank vice-president Joseph Stieglitz are pushing for checks on speculation because development all over the world is being destroyed by the volatility and the heat.