I have been abroad travelling for the past two years and during that time I have paid only passing attention to affairs in South Africa.

This is not only a feature of the medium to low profile our country enjoys abroad, but also the fact that the major issues seem set in stone, while various passing distractions come and go but seldom usurp the place of those major issues in our country's media for any lasting period of time.

Having been back for a month, I feel that the whole furore surrounding Bulelani Ngcuka and the work of the Hefer Commission fits the category of passing distraction very well.

At least, it should. The question is: has it been engineered for exactly that purpose?

I have followed the work of the commission as far as severe boredom and bouts of nausea will allow and I feel I have a grasp that is as good as to be expected of your average Joe Public. What I find remarkable is the elevated status given to a question about the past that can only be described as immaterial when set against the backdrop of real problems facing real South Africans.

What is actually at stake here? What is the worst case scenario? Let's assume for the sake of argument that Ngcuka was an apartheid spy. Forgive me, but so what? Does it justify the lengths to which we are going to find out?

Does it justify the investment of time, intellectual capital and money it is going to take to resolve this question conclusively? And if, millions of rands and many man hours from now it is established that he was a spy, then what?

Replace him. Conduct a massive pre-emptive investigation into the integrity of his successor. Expand the powers of the Hefer Commission to search out other suspects and deal with them appropriately. That is one possibility.

The other is that after all the huff and puff and untold expense Ngcuka is exonerated and we find ourselves de facto exactly where we were before we embarked on this adventure (aside for egg on the faces of his accusers).

So, it's either a long, drawn out, costly process of airing out the laundry which simply perpetuates itself and cannot end in the foreseeable future, or, a long, drawn out, costly process which ends in a happy, but rather meaningless vindication for the accused.  

Given the choice, I think you will find most voters and tax-payers scratching their heads.

This begs the question why? Why is the judiciary, under direction from the government, going to so much trouble over this?

In my view, that is at best a lucky side-effect and can hardly be claimed as the original intent and motivation. If that is the best we can hope to gain from this, then surely all those precious resources could be better spent elsewhere.

Surely, the country would be better served if all those high-powered, high-salaried, high-minded lawyers were sitting around discussing ways to improve the criminal justice system? Surely the country would be better served if Bulelani Ngcuka were allowed to continue the invaluable work to which he has been assigned?

Instead we have the Hefer Commission, in all its Hollywood likeness. Quite frankly, it smacks of OJ Simpson - a little bit of television to pass the hours.

Without a clear rationale, the Hefer Commission is nothing more than a passing distraction, a diversion from the real issues. When you consider the timing, and the fact that one of the real issues is a vice president embroiled in corruption allegations, and from whence those allegations came, then the circle is easily closed.

If you have done this simple thought experiment, and I submit that most people have, it is difficult not to place any stock in the theory that Ngcuka touched a nerve in high places and the Hefer Commission is not much more than a diversionary tactic, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

For anyone who doubts the lengths to which governments are prepared to go to bury a scandal, I suggest a little research into the Watergate affair.

I am reluctant to cry conspiracy, but something is amiss. My only hope is that the matter can be resolved speedily, and we can once again turn our attention to more pressing affairs.

With acknowledgements to Roydon Frost and The Star.