INLSA

DESERVES A BREAK: The writer says former police chief Jackie Selebi, jailed for 15 years for corruption, should be granted an unconditional pardon because he is broke, he is sick and the murderers and drug dealers who bribed him still walk free.

Mosibudi Mangena

The citizens of this country might be disappointed and angry with Jackie Selebi for compromising his position as our commissioner of police by trifling with the criminal underworld in a manner that landed him in prison for 15 years. But Selebi’s circumstances are indeed tragic, calling on us to show mercy on one of our own that has tripped and fallen badly.

Jackie might have sometimes come across as arrogant, perhaps even pompous, but he had basically given all his adult life to serve our country. He participated with distinction in the liberation struggle and continued to serve in the public domain in the era of democracy.

If we may recall, he served as director-general in the Department of Foreign Affairs and then as the SA representative at the UN in New York.

It was during his tenure as a commissioner of police that he also became president of Interpol.

It might be precisely this elevated status in the service of our country that has left many citizens with an acute sense of embarrassment and betrayal.

There is a completely justified feeling that he betrayed the trust that the nation had shown in him by giving him all these huge responsibilities.

With corruption threatening to get out of hand, the head of our police service is supposed to lead us in the struggle against this dangerous scourge. No wonder the nation is horrified by the discovery that their commissioner of police was consorting with crooks who were greasing his palms.

Despite our anger and disappointment, his circumstances might suggest that we show him mercy and compassion by pardoning him through the power our constitution vested in our head of state.

Firstly, thugs who have murdered people and trafficked huge amounts of drugs were allowed to go free in return for their evidence against Selebi. The so-called plea bargains are perfectly legal, but not all legal things are morally and ethically right.

It is grossly incongruous to see the likes of Glenn Agliotti and Clinton Nassif freely walking our streets – with blood on their hands – while Jackie goes to prison for taking a bribe of just over a hundred thousand rand.

Secondly, Jackie Selebi is a broken man. Whatever money he has saved, his pension and all other property, including family dwellings, are likely to be lost to the state in its drive to recover the millions of rand spent on his legal bills. This adds to the utter humiliation that this episode has caused him and his family.

Lastly, and more importantly, he is sick and frail. He is lying in the Steve Biko Academic Hospital renal section where, among other things, he is undergoing dialysis to compensate for his non-functioning kidneys.

While taking into account all the other factors, his failing health should strum strongest at the compassion strings in our hearts.

Do we still demand our pound of flesh from one of our own even when he is down and out?

The suggestion here is not that Jackie Selebi should be considered for medical parole or parole of any other description. In any case, the medical parole facility has been terribly tainted by the Schabir Shaik debacle.

Presently, the parole system is rightly under scrutiny after two of the so-called Brooklyn four, who had murdered a homeless man for fun and assaulted another for no reason, were allegedly released irregularly by the parole board at one of our prisons.

There should be no attempt to quibble about the culpability and sentencing of Jackie Selebi as the legitimate legal system in the land has determined his fate in an open court. That is fully accepted.

The suggestion is that Jackie Selebi should be pardoned and unconditionally released by the head of state through the powers vested in that office by the constitution of the country. In this way, the country would be showing mercy on one of its own sons who “sinned” against society.

Selebi should be retiring from public service to enjoy his pension and bask in the glory of his lofty exploits. But he has been tripped by minuscule amounts of illicit cash that have left him in a deep well of shame, ignominy and destitution.

Hopefully, the quality of our mercy is not strained. Let’s bless him with it so that we may in turn be blessed.

l Mosibudi Mangena is a former president of the Azanian People’s Organisation and a former Minister of Science and Technology.