Why are we bothering a retired judge and dragging him to investigate if Bulelani Ngcuka, the head of the national prosecuting authority, was an apartheid spy?

Clearly, some people believe that every problem in this country deserves a commission of inquiry. It is a new South Africa thing. If we can't deal with it, we appoint a commission. When elderly people were being burnt alive because they were accused of practising witchcraft in Limpopo, the provincial government appointed a commission.

When Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi could not decide who of the two Sekhukhune brothers - Rhyne and Kenneth - was the rightful heir to the Bapedi (Northern Sotho) throne, he appointed a commission of inquiry.

When allegations of racism emerged in rugby, what happened?

While the parameters of the Hefer commission are still sketchy, issues expected to be under the spotlight include:

Was Ngcuka an apartheid spy?

Did he abuse his authority in conducting an investigation of senior politicians?

Did he use the media against those he was investigating, thus violating the laws of the country?

The allegations are indeed serious, but his accusers owe us an explanation.

When did they discover that Ngcuka could have been a spy? Clearly not this year. In fact, this would have been discovered more than 10 years ago. Why did they not reveal it to the government before Ngcuka was appointed to this sensitive position?

Let us suppose that Ngcuka could have been a spy, and by the way there is no evidence that suggests that since the so called agent RS452 has been exposed as a white woman, the million dollar question remains - so what? If Ngcuka was a spy in the apartheid era, so what? The apartheid regime is no longer in power. The ruling ANC is in a formal alliance with the New National Party, a direct replica of the National Party, the architects of apartheid. In fact, NP leader FW de Klerk was a deputy president in a government of national unity led by the ANC.

There is no logic that while you dine with the handlers of intelligence operatives, you will prosecute the foot soldiers. If indeed there is a huge quest to know who spied on the liberation movement, which sounds fair, then we should not have selective amnesia. We should open the books and get to know everybody who spied.

But of course this is too complicated and will undermine the objective of insinuating that Ngcuka is investigating senior politicians because of a hidden agenda. This country adopted a reconciliatory approach, which was not popular among many radicals. The approach sought to mobilise South Africans to forge ahead as a united people of no victors or victims. It sought to free everybody. Some even call this a miraculous transition.

The Hefer commission has a potential to open wounds. Not only is it too late to open the file of apartheid spooks, it is also unnecessary. If we have National Party offsprings in an ANC-led government, why should it matter that someone was a spy for the NP government?

With acknowledgements to Khathu Mamaila and the Daily News.