When Shawn Abrahams was appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions, I welcomed his appointment. At last a career prosecutor was appointed to the position. However, recognising that naïveté could come back to haunt one, I viewed his appointment with scepticism, and as it has turned out with good reason.
Abrahams has repeatedly stated that he is his own man, mindful of faithfully carrying out his duties effectively and without favour. Nothing is further from the truth in light of a litany of indefensible political decisions ranging from dropping charges against Nomgcobo Jiba, refusing to prefer charges against Zuma, and more recently a spurious charge of fraud, alternatively theft, against the finance minister akin to road kill that stinks to high heaven.
Abrahams, in announcing the charge against Pravin Gordhan gratuitously postured that "the days of disrespecting the National Prosecuting Authority are over". It had a similar ring to the ubiquitous barker attempting to attract passersby at a carnival, but whose exhortations fell on deaf ears.
What Abrahams fails to understand is that "respect is for those who deserve it, not for those who demand it". The train to board for him and the NPA for earning respect left the station shortly after his appointment.
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