Mbeki Bodyguard Killed: Silence Continues

It’s been six days since E-TV reported the slaying of Captain Francois Ramashile, one of Thabo Mbeki’s close protection guards. I wrote an article about it when the news first broke, noting how the SA media seemed suprisingly quiet. Since then it has continued to receive poor press coverage, with a few scattered mentions here and there. The silence is so deafening that it’s practically ringing in our ears.

Judging by the recent traffic directed to this site, I am assuming that the public is also waiting on some sort of follow-up to the story. I know I certainly am. After unsuccessfully attempting to track down further information on various media platforms, I made contact with five of our leading news services in the country.

My first call was to a prominent weekend publication where I was informed by a member of the newsdesk staff that she had also noticed that the story had been insufficiently covered. She immediately put me through to their sister paper which publishes daily. The person who answered was unaware of the story, and promptly shuffled me along to someone else. This person claimed “the police have ruled out an assassination,” but then changed tack and said that although my concerns were valid, the story probably just got lost in the current furore over Mbeki’s resignation. When I asked whether she considered the story to be newsworthy , she agreed and said, “We’ll see what we can do.” I’m not holding my breath.

I then called a broadcaster who, although thankfully aware of the story, said that they were currently focusing all their resources on the “constitutional crisis”. Interesting, and slightly misguided, terminology.

My next attempt is the real killer. I called a publication whose investigative journalism is generally to be admired. A gruffly efficient voice said “We’ve been told that it was an assassination, but I don’t think we’ll get very far. The police aren’t telling us how to contact the family. And nobody has given us any reason why he would be assassinated.” I didn’t know that investigative journalism entailed getting other people to do your work for you. Although I’ve never been to Shoshanguve, the home of the late Ramashile, I figure it’s pretty much the same as any local township here in Cape Town, where I’ve spent much time working. My guess is you make a few calls to local leaders and bob’s your uncle; you’ve tracked down the family. As to the reasons behind a possible assassination, well that’s for the reporters to find out.

As a last gasp attempt,  I called another daily publication where, although sympathetic, lack of resources and some other equally vague reasons were cited. They would, however, note down my call and talk about it at 14:00 today. Great.

While I’m not pointing any fingers, I maintain my position on the relevance of this story. Whether Ramashile is just another unlucky blip on our crime screens, or something more sinister, is yet to be discovered. Was this an assassination and if so, who did it and why? Not only does the public deserve to have this information, but more specifically, we need to know if it is in any way connected to the current political context. How can the electorate be expected to make informed decisions when a veil of secrecy is hanging over the death of a high profile public serviceman?