Crime in SA is out of control and it’s time for business leaders to say: Enough is enough

This interview between Moneyweb editor Ryk van Niekerk and Hendrik du Toit, chief executive of Ninety One, was initially recorded in Afrikaans and broadcast on RSG Geldsake. Below is the English translation. 

RYK VAN NIEKERK: As I said earlier, the shocking murder of Johannesburg attorney Bouwer van Niekerk again shows that crime is TOTALLY out of control. I still can’t believe that criminals can walk into someone’s office, shoot him and then walk out. That is clearly the height of arrogance because they know they cannot be prosecuted.

And as I also said, it’s not only Bouwer van Niekerk but Babita Deokoran, Cloete Murray and his son Thomas and the Hawks’s Frans Mathipa were all murdered. Coreth Naude was an attorney doing work for the SA Revenue Service who was also attacked and shot. She fortunately survived.

So it’s time for people to stand up and declare ‘enough is enough!’

Hendrik du Toit of Ninety One is one of those people. He placed a message on LinkedIn just after the news about Bouwer van Niekerk broke, calling it time for South Africans to stand up. He says it’s because our government is too ‘slapgat’ [feeble] and is infiltrated by thieves and criminals. He also says that we cannot allow thieves and gangs to take over our beloved country. We cannot allow criminals to get away with murdering people like Bouwer and Babita, while the poor are being robbed … to fill their own pockets.

Hendrik du Toit is on the line. Welcome to the programme, Hendrik. I think many will agree with you that enough is enough. But what can be done?

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HENDRIK DU TOIT: Good evening, Ryk and good evening to the listeners. We are at a stage where local elections lie ahead, where we all have a limited degree of influence. We have to completely eradicate this cancer, which also means the way in which we do business. One should not just say that you know that someone is busy robbing a local authority, or that the court is participating … So there is a lot we can do.

Among other things, also speak up. The president is advocating for the National Debate. The state has given half a billion rand towards that. But we do have to point out certain things. One thing is that our law enforcement is in a deplorable condition. We now have the Madlanga Commission that spoke to the press today about General Mkhwanazi’s allegations.

But let’s take a look at the National Prosecuting Authority. Shamila Batohi will soon retire. Her term of office is at its end. We have no clarity about who will succeed her or what process will unfold. One of her deputies, Rodney de Kock, who was a wonderful civil servant, died tragically earlier this year, in January. There has been no replacement yet.

Another excellent civil servant at the Asset Forfeiture Unit apparently retires this month, and there has been no process to replace her. She, too, is a very good civil servant – Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba.

If we continually have these processes dragging on without any follow-up or determination to fix our institutions, the one part of our entire institution that is working in South Africa, the judiciary, will ultimately be affected if there is no one with the fortitude to investigate cases because they could be threatened or shot and killed. This is where the state and communities need to stand up.

Edward Kieswetter was appointed at Sars and turned it around in three years. Why can this not be done for the National Prosecuting Authority so that …, then for the Police, and then for the National Intelligence Service and eventually for the Army? Without these institutions, you cannot have an orderly state, a growing economy or investor confidence. It’s as simple as that.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: What you have just said could have been said five years ago. At the time, there was already great concern over the very little progress in improving and restoring our institutions to what they had been before state capture destroyed them. Yes, we have a legal system that works, but we don’t have the ability to lay an effective charge against criminals who can be prosecuted. Prosecution of crime is the critical element here. That’s why the crime syndicates are doing whatever they want – just as they did to Bouwer van Niekerk.

I cannot imagine any reason other than the situation being more deliberate than one might think. It is not simply that the ANC government does not have the ability to place the right people in the right positions; it could be simply that they don’t want to.

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HENDRIK DU TOIT: Ryk, we have a Government of National Unity, and the ANC is the largest party. We also know about a ‘State Capture Mark 2’, a highly sophisticated silent state capture machine that is again manifesting itself and did not go away after the change [in leadership] and specifically when President Ramaphosa denounced state capture. We know it exists, we know it exists not only within the governing party, but in many places is deeply entrenched within the community. We must not simply blame the ANC. Many places have fallen into – you used the word ‘slapgat’ – incompetence in a state where we don’t address our problems.

But we have some very good examples of a turnaround. Look at what happened at Eskom – Minister Ramokgopa with chair Mteto Nyati. CEO Dan Marokane has heeded Andre de Ruyter’s warnings at Eskom and has turned the place around as best possible. We are starting to see an improvement at Transnet. There are many other places where things are improving.

But here we cannot reduce the pressure –  politicians are sensitive; they listen. There is a cost to expressing yourself and there are certain individuals who will be unhappy, but as South Africans we must be prepared to bear that cost.

As we enter an era of coalition politics, it’s possible to address matters. I think Johannesburg’s citizens will speak their minds in the next election, because they can no longer live without water. But we have to expose things.

Many people listening to the radio this evening have read the shocking Jeff Wicks book ‘The Shadow State’, which was published last week. Buy it, read it, and have a look. See what our journalists are showing us. We have become so dulled that we no longer react.

I personally knew Bouwer van Niekerk’s father as a professor at Stellenbosch. I knew his uncle very well. It was very close to the house where someone was shot. One needs to think about it. If you listen to the stories of Babita and all the others, you mentioned, it brings to mind the theologian  Martin Niemöller, who said, ‘They came for those, they came for the Jews, they came for us.’

At some point, one has to remember we are all victims of this criminality.

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RYK VAN NIEKERK: I could not agree with you more. I think that book is absolutely outstanding and I must say when I finished it I was so angry about the corruption taking place where the kingpin cannot be located.

But Hendrik, one can point out that the ballot box is there for bringing about change. We have already started to see change, but it’s still years away. One of the most important sectors of our economy is the private sector and especially ‘Big Business’ – businesses that really play a huge role in our political economy, but where too few chief executives say what they need to say in public to exert and add pressure.

Do you think the private sector is too silent in its reaction to what is happening in South Africa – not only with Bouwer van Niekerk, but also with other disturbing happenings?

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HENDRIK DU TOIT: I think the private sector tries to be constructive … and one has to walk a fine line between perpetual criticism and constructive action. But there is a point that scares me – when one can no longer operate in a law-abiding community and conduct business. Then we will lose untold value.

My motivation is that at Ninety One we are responsible for the greatest growth in South Africans’ retirement money – and they have worked hard for that money. If this community should collapse in disarray those investments will be worth very little. Our investments have performed very well in the past year. Our country and our market still has hope, and our businesses are not doing too badly despite the company.

We just have to address this cancer. All it needs is the right leadership in certain organisations, and proper processes to choose the leadership. We had the Seta drama, where corrupt people were appointed, followed by new ones who were also corrupt. But fortunately, we can show it up. If the press had kept quiet, we would still have the same Setas full of people stealing our money. Not only the journalists, but we all have to show up and analyse these things and speak honestly about them. I don’t think we are in the time when the Mbeki government gave Paul Harris and First Rand a massive blow. I think the … the bank as a result of that.

We are in a wholly different South Africa now, and you can chat with anyone on the street about which party supports the stories and whether he or she is unhappy about the state of criminality.

RYK VAN NIEKERK: Hendrik, thank you very much for your time. That was Hendrik du Toit, chief executive of Ninety One.

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.