Home | Feature | CHARGES AGAINST SALGAOCAR BOSS MAY BE A PR EXERCISE

CHARGES AGAINST SALGAOCAR BOSS MAY BE A PR EXERCISE

30/05/2016 03:19:00 By Vusi Sibisi

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Had it been April 1, I could have sworn that the banner newspaper headline ‘SD slaps ex-Salgaocar boss with E4bn charges’ was an April fool prank. But, oh NO! It wasn’t an April fool prank.

Government appears to be deadly serious about suing Shanmuga Rethenam, yes the development partner who was accorded diplomatic status close to a head of State as he was provided a police escort at taxpayers’ expense, for over E4 billion. Or is it?

But before taking a closer scrutiny at government’s action, may I detour briefly to the lamlambo gaffe by National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula. Yes, Magagula purportedly apologised for terming trade unions lamlambo (troll) and ishishi (beast). Purportedly, because he spoiled his apology by attempting to justify or contextualise his gaffe. This included portraying himself as a barometer for good prose and richness of vocabulary by suggesting that some people suffer from a dearth of language talent that they have to consult a dictionary. How very puerile!

As I See it, if Magagula was genuine with his apology he should not have attempted to justify or contextualise his irrational onslaught on trade unionism and by so doing, further obfuscated issues. A genuine apology does not need to be clothed in verbiage but should be left naked to remove any lingering doubts about the sincerity and humility of its source.

In justifying and contextualising his choice of words in describing trade unions, Magagula spoke of the police as if they were different from other homo sapiens since he said they also spoke a different language. To the discerning, this immediately put into question how he is managing the transition of the police from a force into a service.

Then there is the issue of staff association, which Magagula seems to erroneously believe is an option or alternative to trade unionism. Staff associations are exclusive and not at all an alternative to trade unions.

As it were, the Police Staff Association does not appear to fit the legal regime of a staff association when considering its make-up, which includes police officers in the rank of sergeants. Sergeants hardly fit into the legal interpretation of staff as articulated in the Industrial Relations Act of 2000 as amended.

According to this statute, ‘staff association’ means any combination of staff, the principal purpose of which is the regulation of relations between staff and an employer or employers.

That said, looking at the make-up and hierarchy of the Royal Swaziland Police Service and its chain of command, it is unlikely that an officer in the rank of sergeant would fit into any of the categories as interpreted by the Industrial Relations Act of 2000 as amended.

Back to the matter of Salgaocar and Rethenam, the question has to be asked if government has since lifted the diplomatic status, which naturally gave Rethenam immunity; it had conferred on him now that it has brought criminal charges against him. To unravel that question, government still owes this nation an explanation on how it had initially conferred the diplomatic status on Rethenam that extended to providing him with State resources such as a police escort.

Yet another poser is the coincidence that at almost the same time that government preferred criminal charges against its former darling, the State jet has once again been impounded in Canada at the instance of Rethenam, over an alleged debt of about E120 million owed to him by government.
Intriguing though is the matter of the charges that government has preferred against Rethenam because they may be academic since he is unlikely to present himself to a jurisdiction whose jurisprudence is fractured and questionable.

Perhaps the charges are nothing but a public relations exercise on the part of government to ameliorate the embarrassment that Rethenam has caused to the leadership of the country.
All said and done, time will tell!