Gavin Watson’s death and our suspicions about it lay bare the lack of innocence in SA society
Who would have had the skill to pull off a spectacular hit on Gavin Watson? If the former Bosasa boss was murdered, as some people think he was, it was the perfect crime. There is no evidence (as yet) of foul play and everything points to an accident as a result of him speeding, losing control of the car and crashing into a concrete pillar.
Still, people find it difficult to believe that Watson was dispatched to the great money vault in the sky without help.
The circumstances around Watson’s death are certainly suspicious, and there are as yet no clear answers about where he was headed in the early hours of Monday morning and why he opted to drive a modest Toyota Corolla when he was accustomed to top-of-therange BMWs.
Assisted suicides and planned hits are not unconventional among those populating the business underworld, and Watson’s death happens to be rather convenient for a range of high-fliers implicated in his corrupt activities.
Just as Americans questioned the suicide in federal custody of the highly connected financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a few weeks ago, South Africans have many theories about the car crash.
It is wise not to take things at face value considering how schemers have duped us in the past.
It took several years before it became clear that mining magnate Brett Kebble had plotted his own murder after all his dodgy business practices caught up with him.
Shrien Dewani masqueraded as a victim of a horrendous carjacking that resulted in his new bride being killed while they
were on their honeymoon in Cape Town. It took four years for Dewani to be extradited from the UK to face trial, at which he was acquitted due to a lack of evidence linking him to the crime. Nobody believes he is innocent of his wife Anni’s murder.
The poster child for crimes of passion and faux victimhood is Paralympic champion Oscar
Pistorius, who tried to make everyone feel sorry for him for killing Reeva Steenkamp. He was a master manipulator to quickly come up with the burglarin-the-bathroom story and to stick to it until his conviction.
Since then, several people who killed their intimate partners have come up with equally implausible stories.
The most impressive crimes pulled off under our noses were the wholesale capture of the state and pillaging of hundreds of billions of rands by the Gupta network. The project succeeded through the active collusion of the custodians of the state, including from the highest office.
So it is advisable for us to keep our eyes wide open.
It is a concerning fact that people do not trust the law enforcement agencies to protect our society and solve crimes. If something sinister did happen to Watson, few people believe the police will get to the bottom of the matter. Even more worrying is that when fishy things occur, the intelligence agencies are the No 1 suspects.
The capture of the state involved vital institutions being stripped of credibility and having their resources looted, but also turned them against the interests of citizens. They were fashioned as instruments to serve business and political agendas.
The misuse of the State Security Agency and police crime intelligence went beyond the raiding of covert funds for illicit purposes. They were used to conduct illegal surveillance, intimidate and harass people and deliberately pervert the course of justice.
The perpetrators of state capture may no longer be in charge of the state, but their operatives in the security agencies remain active.
We live in one of the most paranoid societies, where people generally distrust electronic communications. Even with encrypted apps, politicians, business people, civil society activists and journalists believe that their calls and messages are monitored.
The political wheel in our country turns on the basis of leaked information and whispers about other people’s secrets. You own people based on what you know about them.
Those who monitor other people’s activities illegally should be arrested for violating the law and the constitution. But information is a powerful tool in political warfare and rogue agents therefore trade in intelligence.
In his evidence to the Zondo commission, former Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride explained how he discovered that people recruited as security guards by the Hawks were sent for offensive warfare training in China. The purpose of this secret hit squad, or why they needed specialist training as snipers and in the use of rocket launchers, has still not been explained.
McBride rang the alarm bells not only because the process was highly irregular but because he believes there are more operatives trained in Russia and China still in the state system.
In a country afflicted by political assassinations and daring heists, it is quite possible that those responsible are on the state payroll.
Watson might have died through an accidental crash or through his own doing, but his death exposes the lack of innocence in our society.
Trust nothing and nobody is a lesson to live by.