It was touted to be a friendly, “inquisitorial” forum, but had all the elements of a bitter family feud where old comrades squared up in new battles.
On the one side: the mandarins of the state and the political party that brought liberation, fighting to protect old networks of solidarity.
On the other side: comrades too, but fighting a battle against corruption that has lured struggle heroes. The battle lines were drawn: either for or against Vusi Pikoli, the suspended prosecutions boss who bravely decided to take on the state on a matter of principle.
The first three days of the Ginwala inquiry were a stunning exception to your normal commissions of inquiry, often tedious and swamped by technical argument.
Pikoli is undoubtedly the main protagonist in this epic battle fought out in the benches of Johannesburg’s council chamber –a bright and modern building that would normally attract debate about property taxes or refuse removal.
To some he is a martyr, to others a man willing to sacrifice national security in pursuit of the country’s top cop, Jackie Selebi, who faces charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
Selebi was not there, but his ghost remained at the centre of most tussles between Pikoli’s counsel and government.
Other absentees included Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla and President Thabo Mbeki, who suspended Pikoli and then appointed former Parliamentary speaker Frene Ginwala to investigate.
Advocate Kgomotso Moroka, who led the evidence of government’s first three witnesses, was strict and composed. She lost her cool only when she felt Pikoli’s counsel misrepresented what her witnesses had told Ginwala.
Removing her bright orange-coloured glasses, she said: “Chair, there is an objection on the floor. That is NOT what I recall the witness saying.”
Pikoli hired the impressible advocate Wim Trengove, much less flashy in appearance, but ruthless in approach particularly during the cross-examination of justice director general Menzi Simelane.
Simelane, a man of small stature in real life, was sent by government to take the shots on behalf of his minister and the president.
Trengove did not withhold his sharp uppercuts: why did government commit a crime by instructing Pikoli to cease the Selebi probe? Why were he and Mabandla dishonest in their letters to Pikoli? Why all the lies?
Simelane anxiously clung to his hasty denials.
Ginwala has kept a low profile during the first part of the hearings and let slip only once, calling Moroka “Kgomotso” from the chair.
“I’m not feeling that I’m independent, I am independent,” was her abrupt answer to a question from a colleague at the end of the first part of the hearings.
And Pikoli? The friendly man with the goatee listened attentively to what was said about him, looking rather relaxed for a man supposedly a threat to national security.
The Ginwala inquiry is scheduled to resume on June 23