Nothing brings on serious illness quicker than a warrant-of-arrest, or the prospect of time behind bars, it seems.
I don’t mean to be flippant about people’s ill health, but I can’t help but notice how this trend has taken off over the years.
Whether as a way to garner sympathy, or set the stage for early parole, the phenomenon keeps rearing its head, causing us to throw our hands up in the air in collective disbelief.
It’s particularly irksome when the individuals were filled with loud bravado just days before their arrest.
Their cocky demeanour disappears almost immediately and they haul out the frailty card.
It’s also a difficult thing to criticise, because people can’t help it if they suddenly fall ill.
And while my opening sentence may have seemed cynically sarcastic, it is also true that the stressful nature of a trial can cause someone to get terribly sick very suddenly.
After all, nobody expects to get caught while they are enjoying the high life.
The latest is of course that of Antonio Da Costa - one of the accused in the multi-million Rand Eskom fraud trial.
He was unable to be in court last week, reportedly because of a serious medical condition.
In the same week, SAA’s former chairperson Dudu Miyeni’s fraud trial had to be postponed as she was also absent.
In all fairness, this was reportedly due to the chemotherapy she is undergoing to treat her cancer. This is of course terrible news and I wish her a speedy recovery.
But I can’t help remembering how Schabir Shaik triggered this whole epidemic, by getting paroled due to terminal illness that has still not taken its cause.
There have since been many similar cases, including Jacob Zuma, and I can’t help but wonder when and how it will be addressed, because this is not an option that appears to be open to the average person.
Serious medical conditions seem to only ever prevent suspects from facing the music.
It never stops them from committing the crime. Allegedly.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za