So, the president has called Mac and Mo's bluff, and done so with great success and aplomb. It has taken some time, effort and lots of money, but now it seems that there is little evidence to prove that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was a spy.

Instead, what South Africa has been subjected to in the past five days is nothing but conjecture, opinion, analysis and a "balance of probabilities". All of these were cruelly exposed by astute lawyers, assembled at the Hefer Commission.

Major admissions were made this week by Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik, ANC members who came out in the open and supported claims that Ngcuka had been investigated by the ANC to check whether he was a spy.

The admissions proved that the allegations were either a fabrication of someone's rich imagination or an incorrect analysis of a series of intelligence reports.

The admissions which poked huge holes in the evidence were:

The report on which the spy allegations were based was rebuilt in 2002 by Mo Shaik, as a response to a Scorpions raid on Schabir Shaik, his brother;

Maharaj and Shaik did not know for a fact whether Ngcuka was a spy. Shaik, although, said that he could not conclude that Ngcuka was not a spy;

Ngcuka was not at the meeting of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, which was attended by high-profile members of the legal fraternity, among them apartheid agent RS452; and

Ngcuka was, contrary to the reconstructed report, not in the delegation that went to Dakar to meet the ANC.

True, the circumstances as outlined by Shaik about Ngcuka could have led to a number of questions about his integrity as an activist. I'm sure there were many similar questions asked about many a political activists during the struggle. The question why the spy allegations became relevant now has also been answered at the commission - it was a tailor-made revenge exercise in response to the investigations by the Scorpions into Zuma, Maharaj and Schabir Shaik.

This much was admitted by Mo Shaik, in his evidence before the Hefer Commission.

The sad part is that this brutal and often messy exercise has bruised many people as well as the ANC. Maharaj spoke passionately this week about how his integrity and that of his family have been damaged by recent events. Maharaj has done a lot for this country.

For his contribution, the least he deserves is his integrity - the legacy that he wants to bequeath to his children and future generations. I am sure that many other people would say the same. Ngcuka can make that claim. So can the Shaik brothers.

But how did we get here?

Mo Shaik said he arrived back in South Africa from his posting as diplomat and discovered there were investigations into his brother, Zuma and Maharaj.

He then reconstructed the ANC intelligence report into Ngcuka and made it available to senior intelligence officials. He also made it available to Ranjeni Munusamy, then working for the Sunday Times.

The allegations about the probe were published and the rest, as they say, is history. So quite clearly, judging from the testimony of Shaik, if he had arrived in the country in December 2002 and found no probe into his brother, Zuma and Maharaj, the spy claims would not have been made and there would be no Hefer Commission. After the thousands of rands spent on expensive, but good, lawyers, accommodation and time sitting in the commission, the question now should be, was it necessary? The answer has to be yes and no.

No, because while President Thabo Mbeki had access to information and could have just issued a statement saying that Ngcuka was or was not a spy, justice had to be seen to be done on this matter.

No also because South Africa cannot establish commissions to resolve problems that arise from time to time.

Government should be able to resolve problems such as these without spending taxpayer's millions to finance commissions. We cannot be governed by commissions.

The sad part about the Hefer Commission and the events that led to its establishment are that they overshadowed important events in this country.

When the government's 10-year report was unveiled it was overshadowed by the sensational details from the commission.

So was this week's announcement - cabinet's decision to rollout of free anti-retrovirals. In short, the government's gift of life to the millions living with HIV/Aids, was overshadowed by the commission.

Yes, the commission is a public exercise by government to deal with an issue of massive public interest. So, the commission was not for the president, because he did not need, it but for ordinary South Africans.

With acknowledgements to Jovial Rantao and The Star.