Things often look bleak at 02h00, but contemplating the assassination of Cloete Murray and his son Thomas, who were getting to the root of the BOSASA corruption, (following so many other fatal hits or attempted hits) brings home what it means to live in a Mafia State.
Wikipedia describes a mafia state as a state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree where government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise.
Babita Deokaran, was murdered for exposing massive corruption in Gauteng Health Dept. The only glimmer of hope in this horror is that 6 people have been arrested and are standing trial for her murder. We pray that their trial leads right back to those who ordered the hit.
Andre de Ruyter survived a poisoning attempt as he got closer to exposing the mafia running Eskom's coal supply networks in Mpumalanga. It is no secret that David Mabuza, SA's former Deputy President, was allegedly deeply involved.
Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, Vice-Chancellor of Fort Hare University, also narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. He is busy closing the taps of procurement corruption at the University and on the trail of the criminals at the heart of it.
I have always been hopeful about SA because I was convinced we had a critical mass of good people, determined enough to build strong institutions to defend and advance our constitutional values and beat back the forces of evil.