ONCE UPON a juncture of time, a King William’s Town native nicknamed “The Bulwark” met his future wife named Victoria who happened to be a nurse at Victoria Hospital in Alice, Eastern Cape, and later established GM Mxenge & Associates legal firm on Victoria Street in Durban where she assisted in his practice – in between attending to her duties!
This purposeful couple were Griffiths and Victoria Mxenge and they took an instant liking to a young and aspirant protégé (armed with a law qualification from Fort Hare University) from the mission village of Annshaw in the Eastern Cape named Bulelani Thandabantu Ngcuka – as well as took him under their fold by offering him a position as an articled clerk in their firm.
Appointed on March 27, 1978, the future founder of South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority emphasized this date as it heralded a change in the course of his life!
Affectionately referring to the couple as GM and uSisi – Ngcuka was to experience the pain of their brutal endings when, along with Victoria, he had to identify the remains of Griffiths at a Durban mortuary on November 20, 1981 – and later on August 2, 1985, learnt, whilst in prison for political activism, of Victoria’s violent death.
Marion Sparg, the author of the book on Ngcuka, The Sting In The Tale, observed that it came as no surprise to those who knew Bulelani when the NPA headquarters in Silverton, Pretoria, was named the Victoria and Griffiths Mxenge Building.
The book itself is fraught with par for course ingredients predisposed to Tinseltown suspense thrillers than the ugly side of lived reality, such as intrigue, lies, betrayal (from fellow prosecutor, Mokotedi Mpshe, asking Ngcuka to join him in prayer in his hotel room, where he asked God to ‘enter Bulelani’s heart’ as he pleaded with him not to fire him as he had mistakenly granted amnesty to a person of interest in a case – to him later [upon assuming the NDPP reigns in an acting capacity] betraying Ngcuka’s principles in the matter of the so-called ‘spy tapes’ which falsely implicated him in a web of political maneuverings which culminated in Jacob Zuma being let off the hook in a protracted case of corruption and related charges), hypocrisy, bombings and hijackings, etc., as the concoction spilled out for the ‘wolf’ [isiXhosa meaning of Ngcuka] to reckon with.
Ngcuka’s destiny entailed his path crossing with those of prominent figures such as Chris Hani, Alfred Nzo, ex-presidents Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma, fellow legal eagles, Pius Langa, Arthur Chaskalson, Dr Barney Pityana, et cetera.
Throughout his upheavals he credits his wife, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (once South Africa’s Deputy President) as being the singular person who stood by his side. His name will forever be synonymous with his decision (what has become into a case study of legal and political history) whilst the NDPP in 2003, not to prosecute South Africa’s then deputy president, Jacob Zuma – a decision he stands by even to this day!
The tome’s author, Marion Sparg – worked under Ngcuka as the CEO of the NPA and Scorpions – obtained a Bachelor of Journalism Degree from Rhodes University in 1979 and worked briefly as a journalist at the Sunday Times before leaving the country in 1981.
She joined Umkhonto We Sizwe, and in 1986 was given a 25-year prison sentence for High Treason. She worked for the ANC as publicity secretary and then coordinator of Cyril Ramaphosa’s office from 1991-1994.
She was Deputy Executive Director of the Constitutional Assembly, then CEO of the National Council of Provinces.
Image (The Sting in the Tale- Bulelani Ngcuka).
