The Big 5

4

4Johnny was about to go for his evening run. Even though he was undefeated as an amateur boxer a lot of opponents sometimes underestimated him. He was a big boy but also chubby which resulted in him being underestimated when he started boxing. It didn’t bother him though because apart from his skills in the ring he had power and didn’t gas out like most fighters in his division. He put his headsets on and listened to Tame Impala as he began his 8-kilometer run.

Sean was home exhausted. He had a long day. He had a strong arm and a man to give one of the family clients a better deal. He even threw a tantrum at the negotiation table. To be honest, though Sean didn’t fancy the suite life he was happier knocking down doors and kicking ass and taking names. He wondered why he had to do this instead of Thomas this time around.

Thomas was also on his way home but needed to stop by his father first. He had sat in a tender committee that had just awarded a tender to construct a hotel in the Mababe depression. The company that was awarded the tender was a construction company that was covertly owned by the vice president whilst the hotel in question belonged to the Khatombela family. The whole deal was worth 150 million pula of which the Molefe family stood to benefit at least 65million pula for their involvement in getting the tender to the vice president and Khatombela family.

Mr. Molefe sat with his 2 lieutenants Brutus and Themba to discuss where to put the severed body of the journalist. Brutus suggested he be found in a public place to send a message but Themba said it would bring attention to their client. Molefe agreed with both men but also said that whilst it would bring attention to Mr. Wallace CEO of a grocery store that owned chains across the country it also meant that people would not publish anything negative. Brutus spoke about how much Mr. Wallace was paying for the head of a journalist and the conversation shifted to how the rich throw money at the problem whilst the poor offered loyalty. This meant that whenever the Molefe family did a favor for the poor the debt would be repaid in some other means meaning that person did the dirty work whilst the rich gave them money and the ability to extend their reach and resources. This combination made the family very powerful.

The arrests of Obakeng and Brendan made waves all over social media even though Mr. Molefe had asked all media outlets to kill the story. Their impending trial had also become public. Mr

Molefe then promised Mr. Khatombela that they would find the judge assigned the trial and get them to give the boys a slap on the wrist. He also made it clear that the public was not going to forget what happened soon and even said “Chris next time make sure your son doesn’t r**e anyone.”

Judge Malema had just set about going to work when Mr. Molefe and Thomas walked into his chambers. Mr. Molefe walked in and sat whilst Thomas gave the judge a file, the judge proceeded to skim through the file and finally said “this I can’t make disappear without creating more public unrest.” Mr. Molefe remained quiet and glanced at Tom who proceeded to give the judge another folder and then said “you stall the trial and we will take care of the rest”. The judge reluctantly agreed and they left.