I HAVE followed the Ishwar Ramlutchman saga with more than usual interest because of the prominent profile the man enjoys in the Zululand community and the causes to which he lends support so enthusiastically, are so uniquely successful.
His widespread philanthropy is legendary and need not be detailed.
His Peace Pillars tower like monuments in virtually all the region’s municipalities.
Since he ran into trouble with the law the brew which is simmering in the media pot makes for good copy, bursting with opinions.
All this within a zeitgeist of widespread speculation about the ethics of the president’s Nkandla house, heavily publicised corruption in various high places, questions about the lobbying activities of the Indian government to off-set Beijing’s growing influence, and for extra good measure an election looming in South Africa.
Whatever preceded Ramlutchman’s plea of guilty in Durban’s Labour Court last week to the charges of business malpractice, is now just water under the bridge as he faces what are two trials: one in court and one in the arena of public opinion.
Without doubt, falsifying information to win a tender is crooked – if for no other reason that it deprived someone else of legitimately winning the contract.
The fact that he pleaded guilty to the charges against him, gives him the edge in the public arena.
Fanatical opinions
It defuses debate among the Twitter and Facebook fanatics who like in the case of Oscar Pretorius, confuse merely holding shaky and often poorly expressed opinions with stating irrefutable facts.
Few of the social media commentators who let us have the doubtful privilege of their tuppence-worth, let’s be frank, know anything about the law and its processes.
They unfortunately know far less about the real frustrations of dealing with the myriads of requirements, some candidly inexplicable, of South African tender processes.
This is not to say that these technical legal requirements are not necessary and that I’m scoffing at them.
They are however there for the specific instruction of fools and the guidance of wise men.
Adequate evidence of the technical nature of the offences with which Ramlutchman are charged, are his attorney’s telling comments that the completion of the structures about which there is all this fuss, were allowed to be finished and are serving their purpose.
The fact is that the mindsets of our bureaucrats and their advisors simply do not mesh seamlessly with those of the entrepreneurs who keep the wheels of industry oiled and humming despite some technical errors with the paperwork.
I think we should be jolly grateful for this.
Otherwise there will be more half-built roads, unfinished police stations, harbour expansions unfulfilled, school text books dumped in marshes, hospitals and key state posts unmanned and Cuban engineers imported while qualified South Africans languish and the pumps run dry.
