Nigeria Content Online

The South African
newspaper The Star went one step ahead in its reporting of the 15 year
sentence for Jackie Selebi a former head of police, president of
Interpol and struggle veteran, as activists in the fight against
apartheid are called.

Reporter Shaun
Smilie tracked down ex convict and gangster Allen Heyl and asked him
what the former top cop should expect in prison.

Heyl who has spent
a total of 27 years behind bars told Smilie that Selebi must, “speak no
evil, see no evil, hear no evil. Don’t trust anyone, don’t stick your
nose in anyone’s business and hope to find a friend soon.” Heyl added
that if he was well behaved Selebi could expect to get privileges such
as a radio and iron in time, but on the whole former president of
Interpol could count on getting ‘the best of what hell can offer.”

Judge Meyer Joffe
who announced his retirement from the bench minutes after he handed
down the sentence for corruption covered all the bases in the statement
he delivered. It was a measured preamble that traced the arguments for
and against incarceration as a form of deterrence, cited previous cases
and laid down precedent, examined the religious, philosophical
foundations of the concept of mercy and its place in the implementation
of justice.

Meyer went back to
Selebi’s acceptance speech when he was appointed Commissioner of Police
by his friend and protector former president Thabo Mbeki and
recalledthat the man did understand the importance of his role as the
country’s chief law officer and the weight of the position he was sworn
to uphold.

Selebi he said had
insulted the court with his mendacity and rubbished the honour of the
lowly men who put their lives on the line for a salary that was a
fraction of the sums he was receiving monthly in bribes from his
convicted drug smuggling friend Glen Agliotti. Meyer excoriated Selebi
for his lack of respect for the court’s processes and reserved his most
biting criticism for Selebi’s arrogance and lack of remorse for what he
had done.

The conclusion was unavoidable: no one is above the law, not even a hero of the struggle for freedom and human rights.

In fact especially
not a hero of the struggle for freedom: Selebi has gone from prisoner
of conscience to one imprisoned for graft. The system of justice and
accountability is still working.

South Africa can in
spite of the battle now being waged for the moral centre of the
political imperative, still draw these parallels: such a one would be
the timeline of events running from a now more beatified than ever
Nelson Mandela to a Jacob Zuma, a tale of two opposites if there ever
was one. Is it not remarkable that the more time passes the more heroic
Mandela seems?

No one coming
behind matches him and the high energy invested in finding more ways to
sanctify him simply throws into even starker relief the emptiness
around.

There is a strong
feeling that the ANC has lost, or is in the process of losing its moral
and ethical compass, just as much as there is the sense that the blame
for this can be shared all round to the pro-Mbeki and pro-Zuma factions
and all others in between currently jostling and kicking under that
great umbrella.

But foundations
laid can be refurbished; aspiring new generation leaders have a
precedent to follow, and a history of sacrifice and service to call
upon for inspiration and rebirth.

When will such
simple lessons penetrate the consciousnesses of Nigeria’s current crop
of government officials: good and bad, right and wrong, crime and
punishment?

Corruption in high
office for our Inspector Generals is treated, with retirement and a
lump sum of benefits, if at all. Once you have guzzled your fill you
are politely asked to move aside for someone else to get a turn.
Ill-gotten gains are not questioned. Declarations of assets remain
secret. Governor and legislators fight like urchins to claim
responsibility for a tiny bridge that someone else initiated as if
there are not enough projects crying out to be done!

And the irony is
lost on them in the money grubbing haze that overtakes their senses. In
October the bunch that cannot provide pipe-borne water and electricity,
will cut the biggest 50th anniversary cake in the world.

A cake to beat all cakes from those who specialise in devouring, not baking, the national cake.