MARK BARNES: We need immediate punishment of the obviously guilty
Free State government’s R255m asbestos contract scandal is but one example of state-to-mate graft that should be nipped in the bud
There should be a law governing obvious guilt. Let’s call it the law of immediate conviction. When a criminal act is committed so obviously, so brazenly, and where the facts are not disputed, the state should be able to prosecute, pass judgment and execute sentence practically immediately.
The Free State government’s R255m asbestos contract scandal is a case in point. I’m prepared to bet this case; all the affected parties will still be in court years from now. It should not be so. Though several people have been arrested (perhaps a turning point in collaboration between various organs of state charged with getting justice done), there will now follow bail hearings, the tiresome case-building and the objections and deferrals by the defence, before any actual convictions or sentencing...
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