Successful generals of yore always sought out suitable hills from which to direct battles. Experience taught them that when in the middle of an almighty scrap, it’s impossible to keep perspective. With the muck flowing strongly from three commissions of inquiry, exhausted South Africans can be forgiven for feeling like the soldiers on the field.
But the smoke is lifting, and as our collective vision clears, it’s becoming a lot easier to see things as they really are. And to applaud fresh heroes in this struggle between good and evil where the very soul of a nation is at stake. Among them the one who emerged yesterday, public servant Victor Seanie.
The super bright young Seanie (six distinctions in matric, then a CA and CFA) told the Lex Mpati Commission he was stepping forward to clear his name. But the Allan Gray-trained assistant portfolio manager has done far more. In a couple hours, he comprehensively exposed high level plundering and mismanagement of the money belonging to Government pensioners.
Seanie explained in detail how he tried to block the PIC’s investment into Iqbal Surve’s Sagamartha. His analysis showed that, at best, the company’s shares were worth R7 each. Bosses overruled him by voting to inject billions at R40 a share. Future generations will surely recognise this as a cathartic experience from which a new nation is being born. Pity we are not able to celebrate it for what it is. Yet.
