The illegal sale of the country’s oil stocks by the Strategic Fuel Fund may well go down in history as one of the most brazen thefts of public resources yet committed in democratic South Africa. The fact that both internal governance rules at the Central Energy Fund and the Public Finance Management Act were flouted means there is surely a genuine opportunity to make an example of the individuals involved. Let us hope Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has what it takes to bring the offenders to book.