As costs of the Zondo Commission mount up, questions are being asked whether it will tell us anything we didn't already know As costs of the Zondo Commission mount up, questions are being asked whether it will tell us anything we didn't already know
Durban - The poem that allegedly inspired - or at least promoted - the idiom “all good things come to those who wait” needs to be read whole.
While it promotes patience, it also sends a sad warning.
Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie’s poem warns: “Ah, all things come to those who wait But something answers soft and sad, ‘They come, but often come too late’.”
This week someone gave SAfm radio listeners a soft and sad truth about the Zondo Commission of enquiry. Former chair of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Themba Godi, told us this week the commission won’t tell us anything we don’t already know.
So what we’re waiting for may not even be the hoped-for good.
He was responding to concerns raised by MPs about the commission’s “escalating” costs, now at around R700 million.
And then NPA chief Shamila Batohi was shuddering to think what it would cost the agency’s investigative unit to deal with all that “avalanche of work”.
I’m sorry, I don’t have that “strength to watch and wait” the poet wrote about.
For the watchers and waiters, the commission is expected to report in March. A vaccine for coronavirus will likely be available before then.
Honourable members, you should be more concerned about the snail pace, not just of the commission, but of the criminal justice system in general. Especially after Covid-19.
Will we ever see anyone changing into orange overalls in our lifetime?
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