Salakae’s court of public opinion

Salakae’s usual ministerial convoy was nowhere to be seen, and there was no entourage of government officials waiting to usher the Gantsi legislator into another official engagement. Instead, the man who only recently occupied the powerful office of Minister of Transport and Infrastructure walked through the doors of the courthouse. Salakae, now an ordinary MP, crossed the invisible line from the corridors of political power into the colder, more exacting world of criminal law.

It was worth noting that in this high-profile case, the language had changed as the authority of a ministerial title carried little weight in court. Regional Magistrate Mareledi Dipate was not presiding over a Cabinet discussion, whilst Director of Public Prosecutions Kgosietsile Ngakaagae was not seeking political explanations. This was the courtroom, where accusations must meet evidence and where, ultimately, the law, not political office, holds the final word.