From top cop to corrupt crook in six years – Jackie Selebi’s fall from grace came quick. After returning from exile, Selebi was one of the ANC’s acclaimed civil servants. In 1999 his friend Thabo Mbeki appointed him chief of police. And in 2004 Selebi became the world’s top cop when he was elected president of Interpol. Selebi was on top of the world, but not for long.The assassination of mining boss Brett Kebble in 2005 opened the door to South Africa’s dark side – a world where organised criminals tangoed with crooked cops and power, money and greed ruled the day. How did a respectable man like Selebi get entangled in this web of deceit?In this gripping first account of Selebi’s rise and fall, award-winning investigative reporter Adriaan Basson probes the path that led to Selebi’s downfall. And he answers the key questions: How was the man trusted by 50 million people to protect them from criminals corrupted? What damage was caused to the country’s rule of law in an effort to save one deeply compromised man’s career? And what is the bigger meaning of the Selebi saga for South Africa’s democratic state?
