Fiat justitia ruat caelum. This ancient maxim is not a quaint Latinism to be rolled out at ceremonial occasions. It is, or ought to be, the very backbone of any society committed to the rule of law. And yet, in this hour of national disquiet, when truth jostles with spectacle, and law competes with populist outrage, one must ask: do we still mean it? The past few weeks in South Africa have been nothing short of a juridico-political theatre.