With due respect, the Hefer commission is a fuss. It is a futile exercise. So, 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 the 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. The results of this commission are still to be released, more than four years after it completed its work.

When allegations of racism emerged in rugby, what happened? You guessed right.

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

Was Ngcuka an apartheid spy?

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

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

Those in favour of the probe will argue that these are serious allegations that warrant a thorough investigation. I beg to differ.

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 this 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 RS452 has been exposed as a white woman, the 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 with many radicals. In fact, many leftists saw this as a capitulation to the apartheid forces.

The approach sought to mobilise South Africans to forge ahead as a united people of no victors or victims. It sought to free everybody. The extension of reconciliation saw the jailer and the jailed sharing power in the highest office in the land.

This technique, despite the fact that it was not completely popular, worked. It defused the ticking bomb of white backlash and disarmed extremists such as Eugene TerreBlanche. It rendered those who thrived on white fears useless and irrelevant. It ushered in a multiracial democracy.

The operatives from the former apartheid security apparatus were absorbed into the new intelligence community. It was not an easy process. It could not have been easy but Nelson Mandela chose this route and was committed to it.

He had the right credentials. Having spent 27 years in prison, he more than most other people had the right to be bitter and to seek revenge. He did not. He sought reconciliation. He inspired millions to follow him and forget the past.

The integration worked. Though not smooth, the "terrorists" and the "boers" worked together to build a nation. It was a remarkable experience. Some even call it a miraculous transition.

If there were doubts that there are Afrikaners who are patriotic, the investigation into the Boeremag should smash them. Afrikaners, apartheid spies, infiltrated the Boeremag and smashed it. Without them, rightwing terror could have increased and threatened the stability of the country and destroy the peace that we enjoy today.

If we are not careful, if we try to open the healing wounds, all that pain to pursue reconciliation would have been in vain.

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.

With acknowledgement to The Star.