My professional role model is the late Katherine Graham, legendary publisher of the Washington Post newspaper. A housewife thrust into leading the family business after her husband’s gory suicide, Kay resisted incredible political pressure and risked financial ruin by exposing the Watergate scandal. Her autobiography. “Personal History” is a must-read for any journalist.
Watergate began in a low key manner 44 years ago when five men wearing surgical gloves were caught rifling through papers inside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. It was the thread from which the Nixon Administration unravelled, ending in the resignation of the most powerful man on earth.
On Sunday afternoon, South Africa experienced its version of Watergate. But it was a far cruder operation, arrogantly transparent. After latching the security guard to a railing, six “burglars” entered offices of the Helen Suzman Foundation to steal computers and documents. Their kingpin, a woman with a notebook, was instructed via cell phone.
The heist came four days after the HSF launched an urgent court interdict to suspend Hawks boss Mthandazo Berning Ntlemeza. The controversial head of the police’s special investigation unit is a close associate of President Jacob Zuma and is the persecutor in chief of SA Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Unlike at Watergate, the goons who broke into the HSF offices wore no protection, thus leaving a mountain of fingerprints. So tracking them down and exposing their motive should be simple. But who will do so? The Hawks?
