In Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, Alice in Wonderland, the bad tempered Queen of Hearts rants, ‘Off with their heads!’ When the King of Hearts gently suggests that perhaps there should be a trial first, she yells, ‘Sentence first! Verdict afterwards’. Alas, this attitude is not just in the whimsical world of Victorian children’s fantasy tales, it thoroughly permeates the very fibres of South African governmental disciplinary processes: The method used to effect a sentence before a verdict, is the system of ‘precautionary suspension’ of officials. This has been honed into a widely used weapon in the obscene battles over patronage, position and power that make a mockery of the words ‘public service’.