One of the government’s more obvious setbacks the past four years has been its failure to prevent the collapse of South Africa’s criminal justice system.
The police are widely regarded as corrupt and inept, as well as largely defenceless against an increasingly sophisticated criminal profession.
Many of our magistrates and judges are held in equally low esteem by the legal profession. And the country’s jails are overflowing with prisoners awaiting trial in appalling conditions.
Most of the blame for this can legitimately be laid at the door of the previous government, which bequeathed a criminal justice system designed mainly to uphold apartheid. It was a system in which the police neglected the development of forensic procedures in other civilised parts of the world in favour of crude methods – such as torture – which belong to the Middle Ages.
It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that many old-order justice appointments have deliberately bucked the realities of the new South Africa. The reluctance to prosecute perpetrators of political violence in KwaZulu-Natal is one of the obvious examples, as is the authorities’ failure to successfully prosecute apartheid generals and police who have not been dealt with by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The Cabinet’s decision to appoint a ”super attorney general” is therefore a commendable step towards transforming this crucial arm of government. Unsurprisingly, prosecutors and attorney generals – many of them with striking hypocrisy – have bemoaned the new post, claiming it will undermine their independence.
These fears will have no doubt been exacerbated by the announcement this week that the incumbent is to be an unquestionably political appointment, the relatively unknown African National Congress politician, Bulelani Ngcuka.
Ngcuka has limited practical experience – he was an attorney in the Cape during the 1980s, when he was also heavily involved in politics, a pursuit which led to his incarceration for three years. He is a party stalwart, married to Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and very close to the ANC hierarchy.
Coming so soon after the appointment of former minister of labour Tito Mboweni as the new head of the central bank, the choice of Ngcuka as super attorney general raises legitimate concerns about the politicisation of supposedly independent posts. It must also be said that both men have a lack of qualification in terms of experience.
All that said, it is argued with justification that these institutions can only gain the respect of the majority of South Africans if they are staffed by people in tune with the priorities of the new government. Ngcuka is self-evidently one of those people.
It is also true to say that, during the apartheid era, membership of the ANC was a matter of conscience. To exclude members of that party would be to exclude the overwhelming majority of black people in this country. It would have been nice if there had been a clear-cut distinction between the ANC as a liberation movement and as a political party, but reality dictates otherwise.
As in the case of Mboweni, we accept the choice of Ngcuka and wish him the very best with his new post. Both of them will be aware that they will be setting standards for a new South Africa and with that historic role in mind, we have no doubt that they will prove their independence in time.
Happy birthday
The pen is mightier than the sword, it is said, and it might be added that it can similarly give rise to sadness. Some years ago this newspaper, in these columns, offered the suggestion to President Nelson Mandela that he might do well to bow out of political life on a phased basis, making his plans for retirement generally known and gradually handing over the reins of power to an identified successor.
Being unused to our advice being followed by the ANC, we were pleasantly surprised when he followed precisely that course of action, identifying Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and steadily shifting the burdens of office to the younger man’s shoulders.
As he marks his 80th birthday on Saturday, we realise with a degree of shock that this will be the last birthday he will celebrate in the presidency and that we are moving towards the end of what might be known as the ”Mandela era”.
We stand by our original advice – if nothing else, his example will set a telling precedent for this country’s future rulers – but at the same time we cannot help but nurse a degree of regret if we contributed to his going.
Watching him continue to discharge his duties with the energy, passion, charm and sagacity which is the envy of younger men, we can only marvel at his endurance. If, as is rumoured, Saturday also sees his wedding to Graa Machel, it stand as yet further evidence of his extraordinary vitality.
Mandela has been blessed with long life and we have been blessed with the advantage of it. On behalf of the staff at the Mail & Guardian and, we are sure, its readers, we join the rest of the nation in saying, with respect, admiration and affection: ”Happy birthday, Mr President.”