Mother Nature appears to be repairing herself.
The first bit of evidence came in the form of a court order that Hlaudi Motsoeneng needs to repay us the golden handshake he walked away from the SABC with.
Hlaudi was one of the most colourfully divisive COOs in the public broadcaster’s history and during his tenure, hardly a week passed without him grabbing the headlines for one controversial decision or another.
One of them was in 2016 when he sold broadcast rights and archives to MultiChoice and was paid a sort of commission of close to R12 million.
It’s that so-called “success fee” that he now has to repay by the end of this week.
The court order, which includes the five years of interest that he would’ve accumulated, extends to his pension fund.
This means if Hlaudi doesn’t do as instructed, then his pension fund must pay it to the SABC.
It’s infuriating to know that the SABC, which belongs to us as citizens, allowed this to happen to begin with, considering the legal advice it has access to.
It is still to be seen whether any of this money still exists to be repaid, and how long it will take for that to happen.
The other indication of nature’s healing is the court order that is sending Jacob Zuma back to prison, after his medical parole was successfully appealed.
Not surprisingly, he is appealing that decision tomorrow.
This whole debacle follows the assurances given to us by prison officials at the time that his release was above board and procedural.
Arthur Fraser, the prisons boss who signed the release papers against internal advice two weeks before the end of his contract, also assured us that he was within his legal right to do so.
When all is said and done, the one question that we as a society now need to tackle as a matter of urgency, is a deeply conscientious one – how do people of this calibre continue to attract the support that they enjoy?
There are genuine concerns that the country will again see deadly protests from Zuma supporters, if his application tomorrow fails.
Fraser and Motsoeneng were both appointed under the tenure of Zuma, whose administration is almost entirely tainted with either ongoing prosecutions, or serious allegations.
And yet, there are fervent supporters who cannot be convinced by any number of facts pointing to their corrupt value system.
It is a chapter that South Africans are happy to leave behind us; and happy to see being brought to justice.
That being said, I don’t wish to see the frail Zuma spend any of his twilight years in a jail cell.
I would be happy if just the medical parole is rescinded and he serves his sentence under house arrest.
A lesson in principle would be just as valuable as actual incarceration.