Shaun Abrahams: puffed-up penguin
The NPA head is thought to be devious, cunning and manipulative, but the truth is those are all a bit beyond him, writes Gareth van Onselen
There is a certain air particular to a person out of their depth. It is difficult to define but you can sense it: a kind of misplaced confidence, so their tone is imbued with positivity, almost melodic in the rhythmic beat it strikes. Every word peaks with a high inflection at the end. They seek to sooth, as if reading a child’s bedtime story. But the story itself is another matter. Inevitably, if they hold high office, it is not some whimsical mystery, but a subject for grave and serious concern. Thus, tone and meaning battle each other in delivery, and the resultant contradiction befuddles and confuses. It is as though Morgan Freeman were reading your death sentence, in his distinctly dulcet pitch. Horror never sounded so good. The head of the National Prosecuting Authority, Shaun Abrahams, is such a person. Not so much out of his depth as mired at the bottom of a deep lake, bubbling out words from the abyss; up and towards the surface, where they break into the atmosphere. Little...
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