No more

Hermione Cronje has understandably had enough [View this email in your browser]( December 8, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, Just five months after one of the greatest fights in modern boxing history, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán met in a rematch that somehow managed to knock the lights out of the first. It wasn’t a classic like the history-making, racist-shaming James Jeffries and Jack Johnson bout, nor did it have the production quality of a Muhammad Ali special. It wasn’t even going to achieve the level of notoriety Mike Tyson’s infamous Bite Fight would later hold. The fight was notable for how it devolved into fiasco. Had it gone to a decision, it would have been a damp squib, clearly repeated for the sake of two great evils: pride and money. Sugar Ray was America’s darling, who had Olympic gold to his name and was getting paid five times the amount Durán was for the fight. For months before they met in the ring, Durán had waged psychological warfare on Leonard, going out of his way to intimidate, demean and infuriate him. [Subscribe now]( It worked. Being a mouthy barrio boy suited to a profession so primal, and fighting as though each bout were his last, [Durán completely creamed Leonard](. Utterly ungracious in victory, immediately after the match, Durán pointed to his crotch and called Leonard a part of the female anatomy in Spanish. Ray’s brother, Roger, enraged and attempting to defend his brother’s honour, charged across the ring to discipline Durán and got laid out. Such was the circus in the ring, not many noticed Roger sprawled out on the canvas. A rematch was scheduled for five months later. With 60 000 tickets remaining unsold as the two entered the ring, it wasn’t expected to make headlines. Leonard, remembering the hiding he had received in their first encounter, [was on a mission to prove he deserved America’s admiration](. Having honed his skills mentally and physically, Leonard was in his element, dancing out of reach and toying with his Panamanian opponent. Durán, overweight and overextended from months of partying and living it up as a folk hero, was either too lethargic or unable to chase him hard enough to land a hit. And this is where boxing’s propensity for myth enters stage left. Bruised, exhausted and with nothing but a humiliating trip to the canvas in sight, Durán simply waved Leonard away, telling the referee he didn’t want to box anymore. Legend has it this is the moment he uttered the words “no más” a phrase meaning “no more” in Spanish. Did one of the greatest boxers the world had ever seen take the “cowardly” route? Or did he simply quit? Did he even say those words around a gum guard? Years later, all we have is speculation and a story that remains hotly disputed. Years from now, it’s likely we will only have a whisper network to tell us what really happened when Hermione Cronje tendered her resignation. Two days ago, during a virtual media briefing, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Shamila Batohi, told journalists that the resignation of the head of the Investigating Directorate (ID) is not a sign that the prosecutions authority is in crisis. Last Thursday, the latter made headlines when it was revealed Cronje had asked Batohi to be relieved of her duties. Cronje’s departure, [just two-and-a-half years since her appointment]( comes amid a growing level of public discontent at the slow pace of criminal prosecutions emanating from the broader tranche of state-capture corruption cases. Cronje may serve notice of up to six months, for handover purposes, or until such time as President Cyril Ramaphosa announces her replacement. Thursday’s confirmation by Batohi’s office comes amid intense public pressure over the lack of arrests across various high-profile corruption investigations covering dockets including the Gupta family, Transnet and Eskom. Ironically, it has been barely two months since Cronje’s team finally moved into its own state-of-the-art office in Pretoria. Batohi noted that public frustration at the failure of the Investigating Directorate to secure a single conviction so far was understandable, but that high-level cases might be enrolled in court before Cronje leaves office next year. “I can fully understand the impatience of the people of South Africa, in terms of the apparent slow movement of prosecutions,” Batohi said. “These matters are reality complicated and the sad reality in the current climate is that accused persons will do everything possible, [using] so-called Stalingrad tactics to ensure that cases do not proceed to finality, to ensure that the state is not able to even start leading the evidence on the merits of the case.” The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was planning to implement guidelines to help prosecutors resist such attempts and argue against cases “being inordinately delayed” before they are finalised, Batohi said. Since the inception of the NPA’s Investigating Directorate just more than two-and-half-years ago, she said, the unit had “enrolled about 18 cases, 70% being criminal cases that are still being ventilated in court”, while the rest related to asset forfeiture proceedings. “Cronje has indicated that there are many cases that are ready to be enrolled and [that] every effort [should] be made to ensure that this happens as soon as possible, and I am certainly hoping that we will see some movement in key cases before Cronje vacates her office,” she added. But Batohi said, although the Investigating Directorate now had a staff complement of 120 people and its own headquarters, admitted weaknesses in the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (the Hawks), posed a serious risk to progress. Cronje used to work for the NPA and was involved in the establishment of the Asset Forfeiture Unit during the tenure of former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka. The Investigating Directorate was established in April 2019 and tasked with handling organised and commercial crimes in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act and the Public Finance Management Act. Perhaps it was a punishing work schedule, a revolving staff complement that is still either too green or mired in mediocrity, or the lack of support — in money and sign-off — that led to Cronje’s exit. Whatever brought us to this moment is now inconsequential. This is a victory for those who have graced the Mail & Guardian’s pages in infamy. What does matter is the Ramaphosa administration’s comfort in allowing skulduggery to go unchecked. It now falls on the NPA to be sure-footed and fast to ensure her departure does not agitate some of the high-profile cases initiated by the Investigating Directorate. Yours in solidarity, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham Enjoy The Ampersand? 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