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General Ntlemeza’s forced retirement hopefully brings this particular long-running saga to a close.

The Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law are obviously pleased that the challenge to his appointment that they launched urgently in the Pretoria High Court nearly 18 months ago has finally succeeded. But we realise that the general’s bullying and at times near-farcical conduct was only a relatively minor phase in the broad-fronted assault on the integrity of our state institutions. There is still a great deal to be fixed and it is up to civil society to see that it is fixed. In particular:

• Commissioner Moyane has clearly not finished with his take-over of SARS, as his blustering presser performance earlier this week shows. Meanwhile the persecution of SARS employee Vlok Symington continues – he whose memorandum sank the case against Minister Gordhan and the other former SARS officials.

• General Ntlemeza’s departure does not set aright the nation-wide make-over of the Hawks upper echelon since the contrived expulsion of Generals Dramat and Sibiya.

• The attempts to have suspended Crime Intelligence head General Richard Mdluli brought to book are still being frustrated.

•Likewise the attempts to rid the National Prosecuting Authority of the officials who blocked the case against Mdluli, disbarred Advocates Jiba and Mrwebi, continue, as does the case for the dismissal of current NPA head Abrahams and the nullification of his predecessor Nxasana’s “retirement”.

So there’s still work to be done.

Issued by Helen Suzman Foundation