Madam Deputy Speaker, when the Department of Justice appeared before Scopa this year to explain certain problems identified by the Auditor-General with the department's financial statements, the hearing, scheduled for 31 January, had to be postponed because Mr Alan McKenzie, who, five years ago, was seconded to the Department of Justice as acting CFO to help sort out the department's finances by Business against Crime, was shot five times by intruders at his sister's home in Cape Town the night before.
Happily, Mr McKenzie has now fully recovered. That he did was a medical miracle attributed to the swift action of his sister, who is a retired hospital matron. It's now become fairly clear that the shooting of Mr McKenzie was probably a hit and the police are investigating it as such.
As Mr McKenzie relates the incident, two intruders stormed into the room where he and his family were sitting. The first gunman made straight for Mr McKenzie, a large man, who proceeded to try and wrestle the gun out of his assailant's hand. This proved to be impossible as it was strapped to the assailant's hand in typical assassin fashion.
He was shot in the leg, while the second gunman shot him four times in the back, stomach and chest. The bullets were of the kind normally used for hits. The gunmen then fled. They ignored other members of the family and took nothing although the home was filled with valuable objects.
Now that he is back at work, Mr McKenzie is required to wear a bullet-proof vest when he goes out. One can only speculate as to the motive of the attempted hit. While South Africa is rapidly getting an international reputation as the Dodge City of the world, it is a sorry comment on the state of our society and our standards of governance that a top justice official who is doing his job without fear or favour should be subject to criminal victimisation such as that suffered by Mr McKenzie.
The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development and her colleague, the Minister for Safety and Security, should pull out all the stops to ensure that these criminals are tracked down and brought to book. Thank you. [Applause.]