Quote of the week
[T]he moral point of the matter is never reached by calling what happened by the name of ‘genocide’ or by counting the many millions of victims: extermination of whole peoples had happened before in antiquity, as well as in modern colonization. It is reached only when we realize this happened within the frame of a legal order and that the cornerstone of this ‘new law’ consisted of the command ‘Thou shall kill,’ not thy enemy but innocent people who were not even potentially dangerous, and not for any reason of necessity but, on the contrary, even against all military and other utilitarian calculations. … And these deeds were not committed by outlaws, monsters, or raving sadists, but by the most respected members of respectable society.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil
Public Protector acting in bad faith (again)
It is disturbing that Ms Mkhwebane did not respond personally to numerous accusations made attacking the integrity of her investigation. An explanation was undeniably called for and, as I have said, she was the only person who could respond to these accusations. The effect is that the allegations of bad faith, of failing to apply her mind and of acting with an ulterior motive remain uncontested. investigation of offences under POCA was not within her competence. Her failure to provide any explanation for her signing two different reports is disturbing and gives credence to the charge that she did not apply her mind to content.
