Ebrahim Harvey
left field
Are we beginning to see the emergence of a sinister, faceless and cowardly anti-democratic political reaction in our country? If recent death threats against Patricia de Lille, Judge Willem Heath and staff of e.tv arising out of the controversial arms deal are anything to go by, we do, indeed, face something like it. The critical question is, why? What is it that those behind the threats are trying to hide, and why do they appear so desperate?
Why, when serious and legitimate questions are raised in Parliament and among ordinary people about the integrity of this deal, are we faced with these threats?
The reason appears to be a fearful rearguard action to prevent the revelation of information that exposes the truth. The threat against e.tv staff is particularly sinister because it is an attack on media freedom.
The effect of these threats must, however, be to increase our determination to establish the full truth. The threats have raised the stakes in the investigation and raised more serious concerns about those aspects of the arms deal that appear irregular.
Unless the ruling party, and government agencies such as the National Intelligence Agency and the police take these threats seriously and act swiftly to track down those responsible for them, the media and public will wonder about the reason for their inertia. This result is unsurprising in view of evidence suggesting that some leaders of the ruling party may have been involved in alleged irregularities around the arms deal.
Effective action may also restore confidence in the investigation among the many who suspect that the decision to exclude Judge Heath was based on the African National Congress’s fear that Judge Heath may be overly zealous in establishing the truth, and that this may reveal the complicity of some ANC leaders in irregularities.
But, perhaps more than anything else, effective action against those making these threats would send a strong message that this government is irreversibly committed in word and deed to an open, accountable and transparent democracy.
Failure to act decisively, however, will lead to increased suspicion that there are not only irregularities that the ANC wants to cover up but that it may be involved, directly or indirectly, in the threats themselves.
As we emerge from the apartheid nightmare in which threat, intimidation and assassination were the order of the day in a country that has one of the most eloquent democratic constitutions in the world, the recent death threats are a chilling reminder that we still have dark forces at work.
The ANC, having borne the brunt of state terror under apartheid, must take the lead in crushing the authors of death threats that aim to reduce us to timid, spineless and obsequious onlookers.
To allow the issuers of these threats to have their way would mock the nobility of our past and present struggles. We dare not and cannot give in to these forces.
Following the death threat to De Lille, I recall the television picture of her crying for fear of possible harm to her family not to herself, brave woman that she is.
I felt a huge and lingering sense of solidarity with her and utter hatred for those cowards who threatened to silence her courageous voice. What a shameful reflection on our democracy that we still have such scum roaming this earth.
There can be little or no doubt that they are the instruments of powerful vested interests in the arms deal.
A further and greater concern which has its origins in Stalinist suppressive violence against opposition within the ANC in the past is that the threats could be the work of elements within the ruling party. It is the job of the police and the party to investigate if this is, perhaps, the case and, if it is, they must take the necessary steps.
What is revealing is that, even after e.tv’s head of news, Jimi Mathews, stated unequivocally that the reporters who received the threats knew nothing beyond what they had reported, a further threat was received. This time it was more ominous: a bullet was attached to a note warning them.
The irony is that these desperate threats may have the ironic outcome I hope for. Instead of stifling the investigations, the threats may spur on the journalists targeted because the threats strongly suggest that there is, indeed, dirt to be uncovered.
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