In the article "Reporter says Mbeki Could Solve Spy Riddle" (The Star, October 30), Ranjeni Munusamy says if forced to testify she would like to do so last - after Mac Maharaj, Mo Shaik, Jacob Zuma and witnesses such as Karl Edwards, the handler for agent RS452.

She said: "If I am called last, there are prospects that by then my sources, or some of them may have already come forward, that others will release me from my obligations of confidentiality."

This is a veiled revelation of her sources. She should learn not to rush to write about unsubstantiated allegations that border on slander and libel - allegations that are meant to smear others and settle scores. She was a pawn in a political chess game.

Didn't she realise that some of her sources were one way or another facing the arms deal probe and were being investigated?

And why did they accuse Bulelani Ngcuka of having been an apartheid-era spy when his office was investigating them on allegations of corruption in the arms deals?

Are they suggesting that if they were facing the probe conducted by any other law enforcement agency, they were going to come up with counter allegations?

Are they above the law?

Are they telling us to close the justice system and be a country without the rule of law?  

And Munusamy supports such reckless disregard for the rule of law.

Poor judgment and a rush to protect her political bosses clouded her reasoning. Let her face the consequences.

To label a person a spy when in fact that person might not have been a spy is killing that person inwardly.

I don't know where she was when those who were falsely accused as being spies were necklaced in the 1980s.

She also made a telling observation when she said: "It seems the real motivation for the commission is an attempt to deal with internal party-political wrangling and not to address any issues of genuine public concern."

It is totally unacceptable to use state resources to settle internal party political squabbles that surface because of a power struggle.

Moreover, the ANC is not above the law. It cannot prevent Deputy President Jacob Zuma from giving evidence at the Hefer Commission or in any other legal matter.

After all, it was ANC president and head of state Thabo Mbeki who established the commission.

With acknowledgements to Sam Ditshego and The Star.